Seahorse Magazine: Martine [Grael], when did you first consider the Volvo Ocean Race… and when were you asked? Martine Grael: I was already interested in the last VOR and what the SCA team put together, but it was clear my goal was the 2016 Olympic Games so I stayed focused solely on that. But when the rule changed to promote mixed crew for the 2017 race I immediately tuned in and started looking out for a good opportunity. SH:Hesitation? MG: None! I had no idea if I would like it or not so, as early as I could, I went off- shore with one of the teams to check that it would actually work for me! SH: Conversations with your family, brother Marco, uncle Lars, father Torben and coach Javier [Torres]… MG: Since the announcement of the rule
34 SEAHORSE
Talk about sex
change for mixed teams and then my initial contact with a VOR team, I pretty much asked everyone I knew who sailed for their opinion on the rules, women onboard, ocean sailing, everything really, so I did as much research as I could including watch- ing all the videos. I talked to Javier after the Olympics last year about the possibility of competing in the VOR, in particular if there was a chance to do it with my own team. But that didn’t quite happen. SH: I assume that [your father] Torben was positive… MG: Actually, he asked me three times if I really wanted to do this! He made it very clear that there were a lot of shitty moments and he wanted to check that I could really balance the good moments enough to make up for the bad times. SH: You have to be very fit, strong and
flexible as an Olympic sailor, but you have a key weight target. How has your training and diet changed for the VOR? MG: I am pushing harder in the gym than I ever pushed in my life, particularly with the weights. For the 49erFX I was close to ideal weight, so just had to be super-agile and fit. But now I have to focus more on maximising core strength – while trying not to damage anything. Having got a place onboard it becomes a serious respon- sibility to make sure the strength gap to the men is reduced as much as possible. However… we expect that Tokyo in
2020 will be slightly windier than Rio so it could still work out really well for me! SH: AkzoNobel is a strong team in depth and talent. Having now joined them what do you most need to work on? MG: I’m pretty raw in big boat sailing still, so it will take some time until I can say I am super-comfortable in the boat and that I don’t have to think about everything we do. Right now I have to go over each manoeuvre in my head before I do it, I am still making mistakes. But like any type of racing it’s just about getting hours on the
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 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
