Volvo Ocean Race

With the six Volvo Open 70s due to hit the water on Tuesday, we catch up with the shore teams to talk running repairs, what's going on beneath the waterline and how they're approaching the remainder of the race.

IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race

Kimo Worthington, general manager, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG:
“What we’re doing right now is just trying to make sure the boat doesn’t break and everything is set up perfectly. Everyone’s just trying to make things a little better but you can’t really change too much. It’s now also about getting in the right mind-set – the next leg is pretty short and the final one is even shorter yet there’s 60 points on the table. If you look at it, it’s the same amount of points as the two legs from New Zealand to Miami. It counts for a lot and it’s going to be amazing to watch. Anything could happen still – the race is still wide open.”

Nick Bice, shore team manager, Team Sanya:
“The boat turned up in pretty good shape and the boys were very happy with how the boat performed. That stems back to the time we had to work on her in Savannah before the leg from Miami. This stopover we’re doing lots of checks just to make sure the boat is going to make it through to the end of the race. We’re not allowed to lift the boat out in Lorient and five weeks straight in the water is quite a lot of time for these boats. We’re just doing a few checks to make sure everything will be all clear. The boat’s getting pretty long in the tooth now so we have to be extra adamant that we have checked everything we can, but for what it’s worth the boat is in the best shape now it’s ever been.”

Neil Cox, shore manager, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand:
“In reality the leg didn’t create a lot of work for us. Right now it’s more about the fact the boat can’t come out of the water for the next five weeks. It’s a massive concentrated effort under the water line, making sure just diving under the boat is enough to keep a race win on the cards. The actual service work is just standard. Are we reinventing the wheel? No. Did we have any major breakages? No. The reality of it is we want to get the boat back in the water as early as possible and get set up for the in-port race and try to get back some valuable points.”

Horacio Carabelli, technical director, Team Telefónica:
“These legs are obviously going to be shorter so we’re maybe setting up for a different mode, but it could still be windy so we just need to wait to see what the weather is going to look like before we take any decisions. They will be quite last-minute strategies.”

Ben Wright, shore team manager, Groupama sailing team:
“No big changes here, just running repairs. We’re checking and rechecking stuff to make sure the boat is as reliable as possible given the points situation is so close these days. Four days before the finish the water ballast tank leaked water in the boat and that’s all been repaired. No panic here -- we’re thoroughly happy with the state of the boat.”

Phil Allen, general manager, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing:
“The boat arrived in very good shape so we have some standard maintenance to perform and a few minor modifications but it’s all in hand and we’ll ready to go back in the water on Tuesday. We can’t pull the boat out in Lorient so we’re going to make sure we’re well prepared before we leave here.”