Volvo Ocean Race notebook: Fewer sailors means greater versatility is crucial

Abu Dhabi boat uniquely determined, equality to make things tight, pirates out of the picture and paper firm throwing cash around, writes Steve Elling.

Volvo Ocean Race vessels gather for last Saturday's in-port race. Cortesy VOR

Beyond the implementation of the one-design fleet of boats, the second-biggest overhaul since the most recent Volvo Ocean Race in 2011/12 relates to the trimming of the men’s sailing crews from 10 to eight.

In the past, skippers could rely heavily on sailors with a single valuable skill but with fewer crewmen handling more duties, versatility has been crucial when manning the boats.

“That was one of the areas, exactly one year ago at this time, we were first focused on,” said Neal McDonald, a former round-the-world sailor who runs the Azzam shore crew.

He and Walker recognised that the staffing had to be handled carefully because the margin for error is close to zero.

“We knew we could get eight guys quite easily, but now everybody’s got to have a secondary role,” McDonald said.

“We chose very carefully. Everybody on board has one or two specialities, beyond just pure sailing.”

Abu Dhabi boat uniquely determined

The Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat is unique in two major branding regards.

Firstly, because the yacht is sponsored by the city’s tourism authority, it is the one boat in the regatta not backed by a corporate sponsor and bathed in copyrighted logos. Secondly, it is the only boat with a name.

For the second Volvo Ocean Race in succession, whereas other boats might have hometowns, such as “Amsterdam”, painted on the stern, “Azzam” is lettered onto the back of the UAE craft. Translated, it means “determined”.

Greater exposure

After listening to experts for the past two weeks, it is clear that the one-design Volvo 65 boats are thought to be so similar that parity while racing is assumed.

Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking said all seven boats could win one of the nine legs. When Knut Frostad, chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), was asked if he could envision a pack of boats, like a cycling peloton, smashing down the stretch to the finish line, he could not suppress a smile.

“I think it would be great,” he said. The winners will be the best sailors, the teams agree. “In a way, everybody is more exposed now,” Frostad said.

Weighty stuff

How identical are the seven Farr Yacht Design boats?

When the 6.5-tonne hulls were constructed, builder Marcello Persico reported that the biggest difference in weight among the seven was 35 kilogrammes. Weight was added to slightly lighter boats to make up the difference.

Piracy threat low

Crews this week attended a mandatory piracy meeting with race officials and the word received at the briefing was overwhelmingly positive.

After the concerns of three years ago, when boats were loaded into armed container ships for part of the Cape Town-to-Abu Dhabi leg, the perceived threat level at present is almost nil.

“Right now, the news is very good,” said Simon Fisher, Azzam’s navigator.

Big spenders

The team with the biggest budget? That would be SCA, the women’s boat skippered by Britain’s Samantha Davies, which began training with its 11-women crew 18 months ago.

The Alicante docks have been visited by dozens of corporate guests and numerous fans wearing SCA-coloured garb. The Swedish company, the first in line to sign up for this year’s race, makes paper products.

Colour coordinated

Azzam crewman Adil Khalid had his 26th birthday on Wednesday and when his Abu Dhabi mates got him a birthday cake designed like a UAE flag, they checked to ensure they did not have the striped colours of the flag out of order.

Much to their amusement, Khalid explained it to his mates as: “The green grass goes on top and the black oil goes at the bottom.”

With the white stripe in the middle and red at the end.

‘Parko’ ready

Luke “Parko” Parkinson, Azzam’s 24-year-old bowman, feels more comfortable now than when he joined the team, nearly a year ago.

“When we first started I felt like I was in the deep end a little a bit,” the Australian said.

“But we’ve done a lot of miles now and I feel a lot more comfortable. I think last edition, Ian [Walker] was probably a lot more stressed. He says he’s a lot happier with our preparations, so it’s sending good vibes throughout the team. It’s a bit of nerves, a bit of anxiety, but I’m really ready to go.”

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