Update
Charles Caudrelier and Dongfeng head away from Sanya against the backdrop of a fine sunset. Counting 2,2,1 on the first three legs, as the six-boat fleet started Leg 4 the Chinese entry led overall by 1pt – however, the 5,300nm leg to Auckland promised a challenging mix of a light-air opener followed by some late-stage Southern Ocean sailing on the run in to New Zealand. Most crews were gagging for some proper heavy-air downwind sailing after far too much sitting to leeward – especially Dongfeng who are very fast off the wind…
STONKING
– Charles Caudrelier, Dongfeng Race Team Seahorse: In China and Asia do you think that what you are doing is having an effect in terms of getting the Chinese public more interested in the sea? Charles Caudrelier: The main goal of the programme is to teach some Chinese sailors how to race at the highest level. But also there is an expectation by the country for their team to perform, so we have to find a balance between teaching skills to the sailors and also performing to a respectable level. Trying to do both is not easy, but I have heard the number of followers of the team in China has gone up a lot. For sure, our success in Sanya helped a great deal with that. SH: What were your expectations for the race before it started… your performance goals? CC: I thought we would be in the mix, but we were certainly not the favourite. I believed that if we could be well organised, if we created a good working relationship with the Chinese, then we could achieve something good. My goal was to finish on the podium and win at least one leg. We cannot start a race like the Volvo Ocean Race and say ‘I don’t care about the result’. I am a competitor, I like to win. SH: How hard has it been working with a group of Chinese sailors who are so new to the sport… I can’t imagine that many have come from a sailing family. CC: Exactly. When I was growing up I looked up to people like Philippe Poupon and even Michel Desjoyeaux. Even though Michel is only a bit older than me, he inspired me to take up offshore sailing. But the Chinese have shown they have a great future, already winning gold medals in the Olympics. Also, I think they have good skills, a good spirit and they are very hardworking and smart and learn very quickly. There is an innate respect for hierarchy and teamwork. SH: How many Volvo Ocean Races do you think we will see before there is a fully crewed Chinese team that is capable of getting onto the podium?
8 SEAHORSE
CC: The goal is to have a Chinese skipper and maybe 50 per cent of the crew, and the rest of the onshore team who are also Chinese. I think the next race is a bit early because we need to find drivers. In my team we have a guy who is 22 years old and shows great potential as a future skipper. So I think in two or three Volvos there will be a successful Chinese team, provided we can find a good skipper and provided there is continuity with this project.
The guys we have now are young and there is a risk that sometimes they’ll find life in the Volvo Ocean Race a bit boring. We have to take care of them. SH: What do you think underpins your advantage so far… speed or tactics? CC: We are fast downwind, for sure – maybe upwind we feel less comfortable and don’t see the same speed. But there have also been times when we’ve made good tactical choices. SH: When you are sailing in close proximity to other boats do you modify your trim to keep your secrets? CC: [laughing] Why would we want to do that? When we are near another boat we want to sail much faster so they don’t see us for too long! I think everybody is different in terms of how they sail the boat. Alvimedica look fast upwind; we sometimes have the key downwind so we are always looking for the key upwind. It could be sail trim, what you do with the stack, so many things. But you cannot change anything with the boat and this is the problem of one-design. Sometimes you are good upwind or downwind, and you don’t know why. Right now it’s very simple because everybody received the boat late. But next time the Volvo Ocean Race needs to write a tighter rule, because when a boat spends one year in a boat shed it’s very dangerous. Things can be changed.
But what I also know from the Figaro is when you see a guy going fast people say ‘that boat is fast’. But you change the sailor and then the boat is slow. In the Figaro it is more the guy than the boat that makes the difference. SH: One of the differences in the background of your team is
CHRISTOPHE FAVREAU
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72