Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002 www.VolvoOceanRace.org zurück zur Übersicht 20.09.2001 Ocean Village, Southampton, England, September 20, 2001 The Volvo Ocean Race Skippers and Navigators Press Conference Transcript Introduction from Helge Alten, Chief Executive of the Volvo Ocean Race: “It feels strange to sit here after three years of preparation and we now have less than three days to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race. We are always asked how much Volvo are investing in the Volvo Ocean Race, what are you spending and how much did you buy if for? We bought it (the Volvo Ocean Race in 1998, from Whitbread) for US$7.5million and that included being the leg sponsor in the last race. On top of that we have invested US$20million over the last four year period and Volvo companies have supported the race with an extra US$16million. If you then add up the budgets of the syndicates, ports and additional sponsors, the total amount is between US$200million and US$250 million. In terms of a sporting event, that puts us in the major league, worldwide. I am looking forward to a very close, fought race. It strikes me that we have eight exceptional boats and on each of the boats we have the best sailors in the world from Olympic sailors to world champions. It is clear that they are as prepared as they could be for the Volvo Ocean Race. It will be well fought as we have changed the rules (since the 1997-1998 Whitbread) and there will now be equal points for each leg. No matter if it is a long leg or a short leg, you will get eight points for first place, seven for second etc. This way the race is more interesting for the public and it also means that the race may not be decided until the fleet get to Kiel (the finish in June 2002). In view of the tragic events in America last week, we have had a number of questions about the start of the race. I can confirm that the fleet will start on Sunday (23rd September) at 15.00hrs. Of course we will mark our respect and we will do that at 11.00hrs on Sunday (23rd) at Ocean Village with a minute's silence before the start of the race. Grant Dalton (skipper of Amer Sports One, Nautor Challenge) on how this race differs from any of the six others (5 Whitbread’s and The Race) he has done: “Every race has its peculiarities but I guess for us this one is a little more unusual in that our time is short. We are the only team racing two boats, which makes things more interesting. Twenty years ago I set out on my first round the world race, which was an adventure. This time it is the same set but a slightly different scene. There are butterflies in all of us (his crew) as I am sure all the others (skippers and crews) but time has been short which puts a lot more pressure on us to see early on if we are on the pace or not”. Grant Dalton on trying to pick a potential winner in the fleet: “The fleet is small on numbers but enormously high on quality. Never before has there been an entire fleet of this quality. Looking over the boats the other day showed how prepared everybody is. There is no doubt that next June in Kiel there will be seven very upset teams as no one is in this race to make up numbers, everyone is here to win and win well”. Grant Dalton on whether the scoring system influenced his choice of boat: “No not at all. The fastest boat will always win the round the world race It’s such a long race the fastest boat will always come through. If the new points system is an advantage to anybody, its probably to us as we are playing catch up on the first part of the race. John Kostecki (skipper of illbruck) on being considered the pre event favourite: “We don’t really view ourselves as favourites. If you look around the dock there is a lot of experienced people, great teams, great boats and everyone says its going to be a tight race so we are going into it like another yacht race with the aim of doing the best we can”. John Kostecki on preparation: “It’s nice to have a lot of time to prepare of the race. I think everybody would admit that the sails are pretty key to winning this event and that is one area we have put a lot of time in to so hopefully we will have an edge there”. Mark Rudgier (co-skipper and navigator of ASSA ABLOY) on the relationship between skipper and navigator: “Roy is very tactically orientated but understands weather as well and I tend to be more of a strategist. We counter each other. It’s a case of you (Roy) be skipper, I’ll be co-skipper. I’ll be the navigator, you be co-navigator. The big difference I see with Roy this time is experience as he has already sailed the race (in comparison to EF Skipper Paul Cayard last time). We may be more consistent than last time (on EF Language)”. Roy Heiner (skipper of ASSA ABLOY) on the points system: “The interesting thing about the points system is you get the same amount of points for a leg across the Southern Ocean as you do for going from Gothenburg to Kiel. For the sailors this is possibly a strange concept but from a performance angle it is very crucial and also an indication of the stress there will be sailing from Gothenburg to Kiel. You cannot sleep one moment; you will have to be awake to keep the boat sailing as fast as possible”. Gunnar Krantz (skipper of SEB) on watch systems: “We will run four hours on, four hours on and fours hours on!” Jez Fanstone (skipper of News Corp) on being a first time skipper: “Just looking at the guys we’re sailing against, they’re the best sailors in the world. I think everybody here has got butterflies, for different reasons, for the people we’re taking on but also for the effort we’ve all put in just getting here to the start and making it all real, and Sunday’s gonna be real. We’ve been boat building, sail testing, crew training for some of us; three years. We’ve been at it for 15 months, and on Sunday 3 o’clock, bang, it’s real time”. Knut Frostad (skipper of djuice dragons) on going for a new designer other than Farr: “It seems the rest of the world is being pretty busy being concerned about our two boats (race and tune up designer by Laurie Davidson), which makes me quite happy. For us it has made a great difference to work with our own designer and it’s been a great experience for me. We’re not too concerned about our boat; all can achieve pretty much the same speed. It’s all up to the sails and the crews and to choose the right way around the world”. Kevin Shoebridge (skipper of Tyco) on the first leg: “History has shown that the first leg has been a leader’s leg… often; if you look back over the last few races you’ll see that the boat that has got in front early has stayed in front. So, I think that, like everyone here, we’re looking at all the data from the last few races, so can go out from here at full speed. The last thing you need is to spend the first three days getting into it, you need to be at full speed from the start, fully focused and fully clear on what your plan is, and where you’re going. All these boats are going to be very similar on performance - design wise they’re all very similar; the spread is going to be far smaller this time”. Steve Hayles (Navigator of Tyco) on the weather systems expected on the first leg: This first leg is one of the most interesting. It drops down through a lot of weather patterns and it has historically been a leaders’ race. You’ll see people making their move in the first part of the leg, and there probably won’t be too many lead changes in the middle part. Going down through the trade winds - is your boat on the pace or not? Are you set up for those conditions? The first 800 to 1000 miles is absolutely critical in this leg”. Lisa McDonald (skipper of Amer Sports Too, the Nautor Challenge) on her team: “This time half of the team (from EF Education from the 1997-1998 Whitbread) have come back for a second round-the-world race, so we’re bringing a certain amount of experience with us that we lacked last time round and we learned every step of the way. Hopefully, if we can minimize our mistakes this time then we’ll be one step ahead of where we were. Last time round (on EF Education in the 1997-1998 Whitbread) we ended up with a few 24-hour records, and last time we were alongside these guys (other entrants) after 3000 miles for a day or two, pushing them tack-for-tack, gybe-for-gybe, sail change-for-sail change. This time we hope to stir it up amongst all of them”. Lisa McDonald on women’s sailing moving forward: “I think girls have stayed in this sport longer now and the longer the stay in the sport, the more experience they gain and therefore the success rate is getting higher every year, and we’re hoping to start a trend of the same girls coming back year-after-year to try and broaden their experience, especially in this race”. Volvo and Volvo Ocean Race Background The Volvo Car Corporation has its headquarters in Goteborg, Sweden. 27,400 people worldwide are employed by Volvo Cars and in the year 2000, the company's sales increased to 422,100 cars. Volvo is one of the world’s leading suppliers of commercial transport solutions. The group manufactures trucks, buses, and construction equipment, power systems for marine and industrial use, and aircraft engine components. Founded in 1927, Volvo currently has about 79.000 employees, manufacturing operations in 30 countries and a worldwide market and service organisation. The Volvo Ocean Race is run every four years. It starts in Southampton on September 23rd 2001 and finishes in Kiel, Germany, on June 9th 2002. Over a period lasting some nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race will reach a broad audience around the world via modern communication technology. Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE