Back to Ocean Race Chesapeake News

What the Volvo Teams are up to now - Information in progress (9/11 update)

Assa Abloy, Sweden
Roy Heiner/Mark Rudiger
ASSA ABLOY built two identical boats at Green Marine in England in order to maximize speed and sail testing, and selected the second built boat for the VOR. becuase "we had more experience building it and we feel that must be the better one."

The team is currently in England preparing for the start. The 12 man crew is made up of Roy Heiner (NL) skipper, Mark Rudiger (USA) co-skipper and navigator, Magnus Olsson (SWE) helmsman/strategy, Neal McDonald (UK) helmsman/trimmer, Guillermo Altadill (SPA) helmsman/trimmer, Klas Nylöf (SWE) helmsman/trimmer, Sidney Gavignet (FRA) helmsman/trimmer, Jules Mazars (FRA) helmsman/trimmer, Jason Carrington (UK) bowman/trimmer, Mike Joubert (RSA) bowman/trimmer, Stu Wilson (NZL) trimmer/onboard sail maker, and Richard Mason (NZL) trimmer/pit.

Djuice Dragons, Norway
Knut Frostad
Two identical Laurie Davidson designs were built at Cookson Boats in Auckland, Both boats were flown from New Zealand to Miami where they tested and trained in the Atlantic. In mid-May the two boats raced across the Atlantic and then to Norway where testing was completed in Northern Europe.

The crew is Knut Frostad, NOR, skipper, Jean-Yves Bernot, FRA, navigator, Wouter Verbraak, NED, assistant navigator, Stig Westergaard, DEN, tactician, Espen Guttormsen, NOR, watch captain, Jacques Vincent, FRA, watch captain, Christen Horn Johannessen, NOR, trim/helm, Arve Roaas, NOR, trim/helm, Peter 'Spike' Doriean, AUS, trim/helm,
Steve Gruver, USA, trim/helm, Mikael 'Micke' Lundh, SWE, bow, Jonas Wackenhuth, SWE, bow.

illbruck Pinta, Germany
John Kostecki
The new Farr designed illbruck Volvo Ocean 60 met Tyco and News Corp on July 21 at the mouth of the Chesapeake for a trans Atlantic crossing, a 2,000-nautical mile Volvo Ocean Race qualifier. The team had been training with two older boats, the former EF Education and EF Language, in Charleston, SC. Chessie vets are John Kostecki who is leading the team, and Juan Vila as navigator.

News Corp, Australia
Ross Field/Jez Fanstone
Their new Farr design boat was built at Cookson boats in Auckland and was officially launched in New York in mid-July. The boat crossed the Atlantic with Tyco and illbruck in a VOR qualifier.

Jez Fanstone, skipper, has done Olympic campaigns in both the Finn and Soling, sailed for the UK and the US in the Admiral's Cup and competed in the 1997-8 Whitbread Round the World Race on Silk Cut. Ross Field will be the navigator on the longer legs with Peter Isler taking over the position for the short legs. Other crew are Jeff Scott, Steve Cotton, meteorologist Nick White, and helmsman/tactician Barney Walker

Team SEB, Sweden
Gurra Krantz
SEB, a Farr design, was built in Stockholm and christened May 4. After racing out of a training camp on the coast of Portugal, Team SEB moved its training program to the Swedish west-coast port of Gothenburg. Team SEB has now left the training base in Gothenburg and the final weeks before the start will be dedicated to fine-tuning boat and crew in England.

Team TYCO, Bermuda
Kevin Shoebridge
Team Tyco spent winter and spring based in Palm Beach, FL training aboard their old boat (the former Merit Cup) and its new Farr-designed Goetz-built boat which was delivered in March. They moved during the summer to Newport, Rhode Island, from which they left to make a trans-Atlantic qualifying trip to England alongside illbruck and News Corp. All twelve crew positions are allocated and include Chessie vets and Annapolis residents Jono Swain (on the sailing team) and Grant Spanhake (heading the sail development program).

Nautor Challenge, Finland-Italy
Grant Dalton/Lisa Charles McDonald
The team will enter both a Frers design and a Farr design in the VOR which were built under Nautor supervision in France. Grant Dalton and Lisa Charles' boats are to be named Amer Sports One and Amer Sports Too. McDonald, from America, is a two-time Whitbread competitor on Heineken with Dawn Riley and aboard EF Education with Christine Guillou, and was a key member of Bill Koch's 1992 and 1995 America's Cup teams.

Grant Dalton is set to skipper the other boat. With him will be Bouwe Bekking, a Dutchman who was on Merit Cup the last time around, and on Winston the time before that. Dee Smith will be Tactician/Watch Captain/Tactical Navigator.

The boats did qualification sailing (2000 miles) and then went to Portsmouth at the beginning of September.