Introduction

In the previous Whitbread Round the World Race Volvo had seized the opportunity to sponsor the overall prize. During the period between races, Volvo negotiated with Whitbread to take over the ownership and management of the whole event. Volvo had been looking at sailing with a view to sponsoring a major event and the Whitbread filled the bill perfectly. They began their tenure in 1998. With new management, a new identity, the advantage of cutting edge technology and a new race team, the event moved to a higher plane.

Paul Cayard had shifted the goalposts in 1997-98 with his professionalism and in 2001 the race moved forward yet again with eight syndicates taking a Formula 1 Grand Prix approach to running their campaigns with the commercial and technical professionals, plus of course the drivers, commanding the highest salaries.

The days when cocktails at dusk or eggy bread and bacon for breakfast filled pages of the ships logs were definitely over. There was not even much evidence of what the crews, all hardened professionals, were feeling as they swept through waters that in the old days had seemed terrifying. If there was any fear or exhilaration, the voices at sea had no problem in disguising it. The focus had shifted resolutely to tactics, weather and ultimately to winning.

A new points scoring system, allocating equal points for each leg irrespective of length, was designed to scrap the advantage traditionally offered to the first leg winner, who generally had gone on to win the race. The new regime required the crews to keep the pedal to the metal 24/7, pushing hard, hard, hard through 33,000 nautical miles right to the finish line.

Lawrie Smith bowed out, an ample budget from his tobacco sponsors being knocked back by the organisers who had little choice, owing to new legislation governing cigarette advertising.

Cayard was also out. His attentions had returned to the America’s Cup, which was due to kick off just four months after the end of the Volvo. A few other high profile names had also signed up for AC challenges including Britain’s Paul Standbridge and Neal McDonald, who alongside Jez Fanstone was one of the few Silk Cut crew from 1997 to emerge with any credit.

As the start of the race grew closer, McDonald abandoned Britain’s America’s Cup syndicate, who had raised an entry for the first time in 15 years, and took up an offer from Sweden’s ASSA ABLOY. His reasons were many and varied, but the fact that his wife Lisa had been appointed as skipper on the all-women’s boat Amer Sports Too, part of Grant Dalton’s Nautor Challenges syndicate, proved a big draw.

Never before had a husband and wife lined up as opponents on the Whitbread/Volvo race start and it provided the media with a new, highly engaging angle, which was in time to become even more riveting.

Dalton clearly felt the Volvo was unmissable and took the helm of Amer Sports One while Roy Heiner, he of BrunelSunergy fame in 1997, headed up the ASSA ABLOY project, and Knud Frostad, formerly of Innovation Kvaerner donned a bright pink shell-suit to promote his Djuice Dragons entry. Old favourite Gunnar Krantz flagged up the lime green Team SEB, another Swedish-backed entry, to make the fleet one of the most colourful ever.

John Kostecki, the quiet American who had played a major part in Chessie Racing’s valiant efforts in 1997, was appointed skipper of German entry illbruck Challenge and instantly became one of the favourites to win, due to a mind boggling investment in hardware and talent.

The Australian media organisation, News Corp hired Ross Field to lead their syndicate and Fanstone, a British dinghy sailor who gave up his Olympic ambitions to race with Smith on Silk Cut in 1997, was named as co-skipper.

Sao Sebastiao, the South American stopover, was replaced by Rio de Janeiro and Fort Lauderdale was substituted with Miami. Reflecting the Scandinavian interests of sponsor Volvo, Gothenburg and Kiel made their debut on the race track, signalling an end to Southampton’s role as host city for the finish - though the English south coast port was retained for the curtain raiser leg to Cape Town.