Regata News Volvo Ocean Race

Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race Adilson Pacheco

REGATA NEWS é uma publicação da Editora Adilson Pacheco Bureau de Comunicação Editor– Adilson Pacheco MTB: 0002362/SC E-mail: adilsonpachecoredacao@gmail.com.br Site: Regatanews.com.br Issuu: https://issuu.com/regatanew_sc

Léo Léo Macedonio / YCP

A Volvo Ocean Race conheceu, domingo (24/junho), o campeão da temporada 2017-18. O chinês Dongfeng Race Team conquistou o título ao vencer a última etapa da competição, percurso de 700 milhas entre Gotemburgo (Suécia) e Haia (Holanda).

O resultado foi o mais apertado da história de 45 anos da regata de Volta ao Mundo. O vice-campeão MAPFRE e o terceiro colocado Team Brunel começaram a perna dividindo a liderança na tabela. Os chineses tinham um ponto a menos.

O barco Dongfeng Race Team somou ao todo 73 pontos, incluindo a bonificação extra por ter percorrido mais milhas em menos tempo no acumulado das 11 etapas. O MAPFRE fez 70 e o Team Brunel 69. O AkzoNobel, da brasileira Martine Grael, terminou o campeonato em quarto lugar.

Mas foi nas milhas finais no mar holandês que o Dongfeng Race Team fez a diferença. A estratégia dos franceses Charles Caudrelier e Pascal Bidegorry deu certo na aproximação a Haia. A equipe conta também com a holandesa Carolijn Brouwer, que fala português e morou no Brasil por mais de uma década.

O Dongfeng Race Team ganhou a 11ª etapa com o tempo de 3 dias, 3 horas e 22 minutos. O segundo lugar nesta perna ficou com o team AkzoNobel e o terceiro como o MAPFRE.

© James Blake / Volvo Ocean Race

ongfeng Race Team became the first Chineseflagged campaign to win the Volvo Ocean Race today when it took the title after winning a tense and exciting final leg from Gothenburg in Sweden to The Hague in The Netherlands.

Three teams had started the last stage of what is regarded as the world championship of fully-crewed offshore ocean racing tied on points – the other two were the Spanish entry MAPFRE and the Dutch crew on Team Brunel – but Dongfeng Race Team took the honours.

In the closing stages, skipper Charles Caudrelier and navigator Pascal Bidegorry followed the pre-race advice of the team’s shore-based meteorologist Marcel Van Triest and chose an inshore route to the finish line along the German and Dutch coasts which paid handsome dividends.

Dongfeng’s victory into The Hague was its first leg win of the 11-stage race that set sail from Alicante in Spain last October and has visited Portugal, South Africa, Australia, China, New Zealand, Brazil, the US, Great Britain, Sweden and finally Holland.

However the Chinese-flagged crew was always in the fight for stage wins and scored seven podium finishes on its way to overall victory. It was also the fastest boat of the seven-strong fleet in terms of total elapsed time around the world.

A delighted and relieved Caudrelier, aged 44, from Brittany in France said: “I cannot believe it. Even until the last 10 minutes I was saying something was going to happen. We have had so much frustration over the last nine months, never winning a leg. We were always in a good position at the start and then failing and failing and, as a skipper, it was really tough.”

Caudrelier paid tribute to his crew, made up of men and women from seven nations and including the Chinese sailors Chen Jinhao ‘Horace’ and Xue Liu ‘Black’, who he led to third place overall in the last Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-15.

“Our fantastic team is not only about the sailors - we were the strongest team because of everybody we had working behind us,” he said. “Each time we started a leg we knew the shore team had done everything for us and so I would like to offer them this victory – thank you to everybody in Dongfeng Race Team.”

Bidegorry joked that he had spent much of the last leg asleep, preparing for the celebrations at the finish. In fact, like all the crew on board, he barely slept at all during an intense three-day final stage.

“I have known Charles Caudrelier for a long time and when he called me four or five years ago to join him for the last campaign, I really wanted to do my best because if this guy could win the Volvo Ocean Race I would be really, really happy. And I am really happy because Charles Caudrelier, our skipper, has won the Volvo Ocean Race.”

Chinese sailor Chen Jinhao, also known as Horace, said he cried with relief and happiness when Dongfeng crossed the finish line. “I think there is no better feeling,” he said amid the celebrations on the dockside.

“We have worked for so long on this. Thank you to Dongfeng for giving us the biggest trust and biggest support so that after the last Volvo we could renew the dream of what we didn’t finish last time. That is why me and Charles and the other team worked so hard for this. Today we deserve it, it is the best moment and I am looking forward to the next challenge in the future to keep this going,” Horace added.

Jeremie Lecaudey/Volvo Ocean Race

And he made this prediction: “In the future there will be more Chinese sailors winning and getting results like this.”

Caudrelier also praised Dongfeng Motor Corporation – the Chinese truck and car manufacturer based in Wuhan - which is the sole sponsor of the campaign and which has been using the Volvo Ocean Race to help promote its brand around the globe.

“Thank you to Dongfeng Motor Corporation because they trusted me so much since the beginning and gave me the opportunity to lead this dream team and I am so proud of them,” said Caudrelier.

A spokesman for Dongfeng Motor Corporation said: “During this long and challenging Volvo Ocean Race, the full team has worked together through the physical and mental challenges presented by the most extreme sailing environment on earth.

“Dongfeng Race Team is the pride of the Dongfeng Group and it has set a great example for everyone in the company to follow, inspired by its team spirit and the way it fought for the ultimate goal. After two campaigns in this race, we have gained more than the sporting result. The race is

beyond just competition - it is an ultimate test of human beings and a remarkable exploration of sailing culture.”

Bruno Dubois, Team Director of Dongfeng Race Team, paid tribute to the way his crew handled a tense and difficult final leg. “We sailed our own race and stuck to our guns in the final stages,” he said.

“Charles and everyone on board can be extremely proud of their performance in this race. Although we never won a leg until today we were always there or thereabouts and we never gave up."

Carolijn Brouwer, aged 44, of The Netherlands alongside Marie Riou of France and Justine Mettraux of Switzerland are the first women sailors to win the Volvo Ocean Race. Brouwer arrived in her home country today cheered by thousands of Dutch race fans who turned out at the Race Village and in a flotilla of boats on the water to watch the race finish.

“It’s crazy,” said Brouwer moments after Dongfeng docked. “It has been an insane race; it has been an insane leg. We always

said that we were going to win a leg and there’s no better leg to win than the last one – and here we are and we have won the race.

“I can’t describe how I feel,” she added.

“My goal was to win the race and to be the first woman to do it is great, but I would really like to thank the team – they were behind us all the way – the shore team and the logistics team while our sailors on the boat pulled it off together.”

British/Australian bowman Jack Bouttell who now moves onto a solo round the world campaign in the Vendee Globe was relieved that five years of work had finally born fruit.

“We pulled out the leg win at the right time,” he said. “I can’t explain how it feels – no words can explain this moment. It has been two years of blood, sweat, tears and stress and working ourselves to the limit and it all got rewarded in an instant the second we crossed the finish line – it was just incredible.”

ncredibly, it marked the first leg win for the team -- it couldn't have come at a better time.

Three teams started Leg 11 of the race on Thursday in a dead heat on the overall leaderboard.

The finishing order between MAPFRE, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team at The Hague would determine their place on the overall race podium.

Each of those three teams led at various points on the leg and had their opportunities to grab the prize.

But it was Caudrelier and his crew who made a bold call on Saturday evening to take a coastal route to the finish, which squeezed them tight against the shoreline and separated from the other leaders by a series of Exclusion Zones.

“We were not in such a good position, but we trusted our choice and we pushed,” Caudrelier said. “The others didn’t follow us, but we believed and we won…”

The decision hurt the team in the short term as they tumbled down the leaderboard. But by Sunday morning, with less than 100 miles left to race, weather routing projections had the top boats finishing within minutes of each other. None had been able to break away overnight, despite the significant splits on the race course.

“We knew that we would fall behind initially and that if it came good it would only be at the end. The last position report (1300 UTC on Sunday) we were 27-miles from the finish and they were 20-miles and we thought it was over. But then I did a small weather routing and it showed we could end up one-mile ahead so I woke everyone up and said, ‘let’s push!’”

As the teams finally converged again on Sunday afternoon, just a few miles from the finish, it was Dongfeng Race Team, flying down the coast from the north sliding in front of the offshore group, to earn their first leg win, propelling Caudrelier’s team to overall victory.

“We always trusted each other. No-

bo bu lie am ca

Th in fir an bo vo Xa w “ sa w a th ha sa T ha fo ni fo ce “ be “W go ds th w fo S w te fo “ ho lo th sp th ou do V lo aft

ody thought we were going to win this last leg, ut I had a good feeling,” an emotional Caudreer said, after thanking his supporters and tem. “I said ‘we can’t lose, we can’t lose, we an’t lose’… and we won!”

he overall results make this the closest finish n the 45-year history of the race and marks the rst win for a Chinese-flagged team. It also mens Carolijn Brouwer and Marie Riou were on oard as the first women sailors to win the Volo Ocean Race. abi Fernández’s MAPFRE was third on the leg, which put the team into second overall.

“It has been tough,” Fernández admitted. “We ailed very well the whole way around the world and on this leg as well, so naturally we’re bit disappointed. We were very, very close his time, but it was not quite enough. So we ave to say congratulations to Dongfeng who ailed a little bit better than us.”

Team Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking would ave liked nothing more than to win the race or the first time in eight tries with a home fiish in The Netherlands. But it wasn’t to be. His ourth place leg finish left the team in third plae overall.

“Third place, still on the podium, I think we can e pretty proud of that as a team,” he said.

We thought we had made the right choice (to o further offshore) and we expected a winshift. It came 90-minutes too late and that was he race. But that’s yacht racing. And of course we have to congratulate Dongfeng and MAPFRE or their results.”

Second place on the final leg into The Hague was Dutch skipper Simeon Tienpont and his eam AkzoNobel, who had previously secured ourth place on the overall leaderboard.

“It’s incredible to finish on the podium in our ometown,” Tienpont said. “We would have oved to have been fighting into The Hague for he final podium but to have set the 24-hour peed record and to get six podium finishes in he race is a testament to the job everyone on ur team – on the boat and on shore – have one.”

Vestas 11th Hour Racing had already been ocked into fifth place on the scoreboard and fter a promising start to Leg 11, had a disap-

pointing seventh place finish on the leg.

“We have a great group of folks on this team,” skipper Charlie Enright said.

“We’ve been through a lot and I’m not sure any other group could have dealt with the challenges we have faced the way we did. It’s something special and we’re going to continue to work together moving forward. This was a tough way to go out certainly, but we have one more opportunity with the In-Port Race this weekend.”

That In-Port Race, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, will determine the sixth and seventh place positions in this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. Both SHK/Scallywag and Turn the Tide on Plastic finished the Volvo Ocean Race on equal points.

The tie-break mechanism is the In-Port Race Series, where David Witt’s Scallywag team currently holds the lead. But Dee Caffari’s Turn the Tide on Plastic is just three points behind and a strong finish on Saturday could lift them off the bottom of the leaderboard.

“We can’t help but smile today. We’ve done it,” said Caffari. “This leg was like the longest In-Port Race ever. A lot of corners to go around, and we gave it 100 per cent and left nothing in the tank.”

For David Witt, the finish was bittersweet the loss of John Fisher overboard in the Southern Ocean top of mind.

“I have very mixed emotions right now,” Witt said dockside immediately after finishing. “I’m incredibly proud of our team both on and off the water. We’re very tight and we have gone through a lot... But I’m also sad of course. I didn’t finish it with my best mate (John Fisher) who we started with. So very mixed emotions, but I’m glad we finished it.”

The teams will celebrate their accomplishments and take well-earned rest on Monday. The rest of the week will see activities in The Hague building towards the final In-Port Race and Awards Night on June 30.

Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean

Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 só foi decidida nos últimos metros de domingo (24/6). Com MAPFRE, Team Brunel e Dongfeng Race Team praticamente empatados antes da largada, o vencedor da 11ª etapa seria o campeão. E a regata foi muito parelha nas mais de 700 milhas.

E o chinês Dongfeng Race Team conquistou o título ao vencer a última regata, percurso de Gotemburgo (Suécia) e Haia (Holanda).

O time vermelho ganhou a 11ª etapa com o tempo de 3 dias, 3 horas e 22 minutos. O segundo lugar nesta perna ficou com o team AkzoNobel e o terceiro como o MAPFRE. O barco comandando pelo francês Charles Caudrelier pegou um caminho diferente dos demais perto das zonas de exclusão. A estratégia deu certo e eles foram campeões.

"Não estávamos em uma posição tão boa, mas confiamos em nossa escolha e pressionamos", disse Charles Caudrelier. "Os outros não nos seguiram, nós acreditamos e vencemos. Sempre confiamos uns nos outros. Ninguém pensou que íamos vencer esta última etapa, mas eu tive um bom pressentimento''.

A decisão, no entanto, não surtiu efeito no curto prazo. O barco caiu na tabela depois da nova rota, mas no domingo pela manhã, com menos de 100 milhas para o fim. ''Sabíamos que inicialmente ficaríamos para trás e que, se desse certo, seria apenas no final. O último relatório de posição do domingo nós estávamos a 27 milhas do final e eles tinham 20 milhas de vantagem.

Parecia perdido, mas eu fiz um cálculo e vi que dava. Acordei todo mundo e aceleramos'', completou Charles Caudrelier.

O Brasil pode comemorar parte do título.

A holandesa Carolijn Brouwer se considera brasileira por ter morado em Niterói (RJ) e Belo Horizonte (MG) por mais de uma dé-

cada. Ela e a francesa Marie Riou são também as primeiras mulheres a vencer a Volvo Ocean Race.

Competição apertada O resultado foi o mais apertado da história de 45 anos da regata de Volta ao Mundo. O vice-campeão MAPFRE e o terceiro colocado Team Brunel começaram a perna dividindo a liderança.

O barco Dongfeng Race Team somou ao todo 73 pontos, incluindo a bonificação extra por ter percorrido mais milhas em menos tempo no acumulado das 11 etapas. O MAPFRE fez 70 e o Team Brunel 69.

O AkzoNobel, da brasileira Martine Grael, terminou o campeonato em quarto lugar.

Na sequência ficaram Vestas 11th Hour Racing, Turn the Tide on Plastic e SHK | Scallywag.

O MAPFRE do campeão olímpico espanhol Xabi Fernández ficou em terceiro na perna 11, o que colocou a equipe em segundo lugar no geral. Mas a armada ibérica queria o ouro!

"Está sendo difícil pra gente", admitiu Xabi Fernández. “Nós navegamos muito bem durante todo o campeonato e nesta perna também, então, naturalmente, estamos um pouco decepcionados. Ficamos muito, muito próximos desta vez, mas não foi o suficiente. Por isso, temos que dizer parabéns ao Dongfeng, que navegou um pouco melhor que nós''.

O comandante do Team Brunel, Bouwe Bekking, não conseguiu ser campeão depois de oito tentativas com um final em casa, na Holanda.

"Terceiro lugar, ainda no pódio, acho que podemos ter muito orgulho disso como um time", disse Bouwe Bekking. ''Achamos que tínhamos feito a escolha certa (para ir mais longe da costa) e esperávamos uma mudança de vento. Chegou 90 minutos mais tarde. Temos que parabenizar Dongfeng e MAPFRE por seus resultados''.

A Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 teve 11 etapas e uma passagem pelo Brasil. Itajaí (SC) recebeu os barcos vindos dos mares do sul em abril deste ano. A campeã olímpica Martine Grael esteve presente em todas as

Pedro Martinez/Volvo Ocean Race

Fotos : Maria Muiña/Mapfre

On Sunday 24th June the last leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 finished in Holland; almost 1000 miles of sailing between the ports of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the Hague (Holland); decisive in declaring the final winners of the round-the-world race. MAPFRE crossed the finish line in third place at 17:39:25 h 3 days 3 hours 39 minutes and 25 seconds, thus achieving second place in the competition overall.

Since the start of the race in Alicante on 22nd October, the fleet of VO65s (20 metres long) have sailed nearly 45,000 miles (over 83,000 kilometres) around the world.

During the last nine months, MAPFRE has completed a total of 11 legs across five continents and visited 12 countries (Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Holland).

With their result, MAPFRE has achieved the best ever result for Spain in the competition to date. In 1981 Joaquín Coello’s Licor 43 was the first Spanish team to compete in the round-the-world race. Since then, over the last 37 years a total of 10 boats have represented Spain in the fight for the highly-esteemed trophy. Until today, Galicia Pescanova (in 1993), and Telefónica Blue (in 2009) were the two teams to have completed the race with the best result, in third place.

“The team is the best we have. We have finished with the same team we left with in Alicante and that has huge value,” said Xabi Fernández on finishing the race.

Despite not claiming the final victory, MAPFRE were winners of three of the legs (second, third and eighth) and the team to have won the most number of legs in this edition, along with Brunel (seventh, ninth and tenth) and

VR Auckland to Itajaí (Brazil) rounding the legendary Cape Horn, was to prove one of the worst legs in the most recent history of the round-the-world race due to extremely harsh sea states and wind conditions, and for the tragic loss of John Fisher, crew member of Scallywag.

Leg one of the race from Alicante to Lisbon, began in October, and the team finished in second place. Two longer legs were to follow: Lisbon-Cape Town, their first leg victory, and Cape Town-Melbourne, the second consecutive win.

The so-called Queen leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, from

The victory of Xabi Fernández’s crew in Leg 8 from Brazil to the United States, will also go down in offshore racing history; having overcome serious electrical problems on board the team refused to give up their fight; ingeniously making repairs to continue on towards their goal, and showed a miraculous come-back to sweep the final victory just metres from the finish line.

VR

The careful and conscientious preparation of the team in Sanxenxo, MAPFRE’s operational base, placed the Spanish team among the favourites to win the race from the start; a pressure that Xabi Fernández’s crew admirably integrated.

Across the Atlantic (Newport to Cardiff) the team finished in fifth place, and in the final legs of the race were second.

VR

was the team to have been leading the fleet the longest.

It was also the leg where the Spanish team suffered damage to the main sail track, a setback they attempted to remedy to their best ability, but subsequent damage to the main sail, left the team with no option but to suspend racing, 6 nautical miles from Cape Horn, to undertake repairs, and to enable them to continue. The incredible repair operation was a clear demonstration of the integrity and fighting spirit of the team, and in spite of such huge obstacles, the Spanish team were able to reach the finish line in Itajaí (Brazil) in fifth place.

eam AkzoNobel finishes Volvo Ocean Race campaign strongly with second place on final leg into The Hague Team AkzoNobel has finished second on the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race around the world to claim fourth place in the overall standings, after Leg 11 from Gothenburg, Sweden came to a thrilling conclusion in front of huge crowds on the beachfront of The Hague in the Netherlands.

This final result in the 45,000-nautical mile (83,000-kilometer) ocean racing marathon means the team has finished on the podium in six out of 11 legs during the eight-month race around the world.

The crew also set a new outright 24-hour distance time for the Volvo Ocean Race on Leg 9 from the United States to the United Kingdom when they clocked up 602.51 nautical miles (1,115.8 kilometers), making them the fastest Volvo Ocean Race crew ever in the 45-year history of the race.

“It’s been an unbelievably hard journey and we have been through some ups and downs around the world, so we are very proud to finish on the podium as the first Dutch boat in our home port at The Hague,” said team AkzoNobel skipper Simeon Tienpont (NED).

faster and more direct route to the finish line

© Thierry Martinez / team AkzoNobel

In the end it was Dongfeng Race Team sailors who emerged ahead to take their first leg win of the race and the overall Volvo Ocean Race title. Behind them team AkzoNobel got the upper hand in a final gybing match with Mapfre to slip around the last marker buoy ahead and cross the finish line in second place.

“It was an incredibly hard leg and none of us have really slept for days,” said boat captain Nicolai Sehested (DEN). “That’s what you have to do in these kind of sprint legs when you are competing against teams that are sailing to win the overall race.

fourth place.

Then as the wind ramped up to over 30 knots on the final night at sea, the team AkzoNobel crew went on a charge, replicating the potent “triple-head” sail setup that had earned them the 24-hour distance record on transatlantic Leg 9, to power into the Leg 11 lead by sunrise on the morning of the final day.

“This is our sixth podium result of the campaign and I think that says something about the quality of this team,” he added.

The fight for the overall Volvo Ocean Race trophy had become more intense when Mapfre joined team AkzoNobel and Team Brunel on an offshore appro-

ach to the finish, leaving the third title contender – Dongfeng Race Team – to take an inshore route past the mass of exclusion zones blocking the direct route to The Hague.

Despite the resulting huge separation between the top boats the advantage between them ebbed and flowed throughout the final day. While the three western crews duelled their way downwind in a flurry of gybes towards The Hague, Dongfeng Race Team made steady gains as they sailed a longer but

“We have been trying so hard to win this final leg and almost all the way to the end we thought we had it. Congratulations though to Dongfeng Race Team for a fantastic move and well done to them for taking the overall trophy.”

Helmsman and sail trimmer Justin Ferris said the crew was happy that they had sailed the boat well and had at times experimented with some new setups to improve their performance in certain conditions.

“We tried things on this leg that we have been nervous about previously,” Ferris said. “There was nothing to lose so we pushed the boat a bit harder and went well in some conditions we have previously struggled with.

Dongfeng Race Team (CHN) snatched the lead in the final minutes of Leg 11 to claim the overall Volvo Ocean Race title ahead of second placed Spanish crew Mapfre, and Dutch entry Team Brunel, who had both started the final leg in an effective points tie with the Chinese team.

“Coming in second is a nice way to finish and if Dongfeng hadn’t snuck through down the coastline then we would have been here first. But congratulations to them, they have done a fantastic job and been consistent throughout the whole race.”

Team AkzoNobel led the seven-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet out of Gothenburg on the afternoon of Thursday June 21 but dropped to fifth in the standings by the time the boats rounded a turning marker close to the Norwegian coast shortly after midnight on the first night at sea.

Although all of the ocean legs of the Volvo Ocean Race are now completed the team AkzoNobel sailors have two further competitive engagements while they are

The crew was still in fifth when the fleet rounded a turning mark in the inner harbour of the Danish city of Aarhus on the afternoon of Friday June 22 but began to make significant gains as the course led the fleet back north.

In the morning on Saturday June 23, within hours of rounding the penultimate turning mark of the circa 1,000 nautical-mile (1,852kilometer) course – a virtual waypoint east of the northern tip of Denmark – team AkzoNobel overhauled Team Brunel to move into

Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean

OC Sport, the international sports management company that specialises in professional sailing and outdoor sports, celebrated its biggest ever team management success this weekend with the victory of Dongfeng Race Team in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race.

The Chinese flagged team, sponsored by the car and truck manufacturer Dongfeng Motor Corporation, clinched the Volvo Ocean Race title on Sunday after an exciting and tense three-way sail-off for overall victory during the final leg from Gothenburg to The Hague.

Dongfeng Race Team was created and managed by OC Sport in 2013 to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 when it finished third overall. This time, under the same skipper – Charles Caudrelier of France – and still

under OC Sport management led by Bruno Dubois, it has achieved its goal of winning what is regarded as the pinnacle of fullycrewed offshore ocean racing.

For OC Sport this is the company's single biggest success in the management of professional fully-crewed ocean racing campaigns and ranks alongside its founding landmark achievements in sailing when managing the stellar career of Dame Ellen MacArthur.

Dubois, the Team Director, underlined that the campaign has always been about more than winning the Volvo Ocean Race trophy.

From the outset Dongfeng Race Team has been committed to helping to develop the sport of sailing in China and it has selected

Eloi Stichelbaut/Dongfeng Race Team

Eloi Stichelbaut/Dongfeng Race Team

UTMB. and trained a core group of three Chinese sailors, two of whom took part in this race. Across the team as a whole there were 10 Chinese staff working in communications and boat maintenance and preparation, alongside an international group of male and female sailors from seven nations.

"We learnt from what we achieved in 2013 and have used that knowledge and expertise to climb to the top of the podium," said Dubois.

"We believe and hope that the success of Dongfeng Race Team will help establish sailing as a popular sport in China and look forward to seeing the sailors we have trained – among them Chen Jinhao (Horace), Yang Jiru (Wolf) and Xue Liu (Black) – going forward to new and successful projects," he said.

Rémi Duchemin, a co-chief executive of OC Sport, said that this campaign has contributed significantly to increasing Dongfeng's global profile.

"I would like to pay tribute to Dongfeng Motor Corporation who have put their trust in us since 2013 to deliver not only a successful sporting sponsorship but a commercially successful one too. Senior executives at Dongfeng understood that building success at this level would take time and their support and commitment has been unwavering."

OC Sport which was founded in Cowes in the UK in 1998 and is now owned by the French media conglomerate, the Telegramme Group,

has the biggest portfolio of professional sailing events in global sports management.

These include the Extreme Sailing Series™ which it created and manages, the fouryearly The Transat, the four-yearly Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe, the annual Solitaire URGO Le Figaro and the Transat AG2R La Mondiale.

In its outdoor events portfolio, the company runs the expanding Haute Route amateur cycling series which features 12 different events across Europe and in North America. It also manages the Harmony Geneva Marathon for Unicef and the Nice-Cannes Marathon, plus triathlons and endurance mountain running events under the UTMB brand including Gaoligong by UTMB and Oman by

The next big event on OC Sport's sailing agenda is the Route du Rhum -Destination Guadeloupe professional solo transatlantic race which sets sail from St Malo for Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe on November 4th. The 40th anniversary of this classic will feature a record entry of 122 skippers in four classes.

Hervé Favre, co-chief executive of OC Sport with responsibility for sailing, said the success of Dongfeng Race Team was evidence that the company leads the way in both event and team management in global professional sailing.

"We are at the forefront in both disciplines," said Favre, "and we look forward to new and exciting projects, both as team managers and event crea-

Eloi Stichelbaut/Dongfeng Race Team

Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean

Enquanto grande parte dos brasileiros estão com olhos voltados para a Rússia na expectativa de sucesso da seleção brasileira. Tem uma parte de brasileiros, focados também em outra parte da Europa, mais precisamente para Holanda e na cidade de Haia.

Pois é, esta cidade holandesa é o é o porto final da Regata Volvo Ocean Race. Foram praticamente nove meses de muito desafios, acidentes no caminho e até a perda no mar de um velejador. A vitória final foi do time da Dongfeng Race Team, criada e gerida pela OC Sport em 2013 para participar na Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, quando terminou em terceiro na geral. Desta vez, sob o mesmo comandante - Charles Caudrelier da França - e ainda sob a direção da OC Sport, conquista o troféu da competição.

A bordo está a meia brasileira a holandesa Carolijin Brouwer, uma holandesa que morou por uma década no Rio de Janeiro e Belo Horizonte. Podemos dizer em tempos de Copa do Mundo do Futebol e da Vela que Carol tem meio sangue de brasileiro.

Mas o Brasil marcou sua presença feminina nesta regata que percorreu 45.000 milhas náuticas ao redor do mundo, cruzando quatro oceanos, tocando seis continentes e 12 cidades mundiais, entre elas a cidade de Itajai.

A história se repete - pois, na última edição sob comando da Volvo, os organizadores do evento abriram espaço para participação das mulheres velejadoras, o Brasil marcou presença. Mas quis a história que este jornalista em uma rápida entrevista, lá pelo meados de agosto de 2017, com o então CEO da Volvo Ocean Race, Mark Turner - ouvisse está declaração: - Eu gostaria de ver a Martine Grael em uma barco na Volvo Ocean Race!

Pois é, o Mark tempos depois pediu demissão e Martine entrava na tripulação do barco Holandês AkzoNobel do

Fotos: Volvo Ocean Race

skipper Simeon Tienpont. Com Martine estava o outro brasileiro - Joca Signorini.

Joca acabou desembarcando.

Bom, Martine Grael ficou! Acreditou no time, ou, na oportunidade que surgia em sua frente - estar na elite do esporte nautico mundial.

Martine repete a história de seu pai, Torben Grael uma lenda do esporte náutico mundial. Torben ganhou uma competição da Volvo Ocean Race com o Barco Ericsson, mas também tem em sua longa trajetória oceânica ter sido comandando do único barco brasileiro a participar de uma Volvo Ocean Race na edição edição 2005-2006.

Já em Haia - Martine quebra uma cisma - não é somente a filha de Torben que está ali. Mas sim, é um das grandes velejadores do planeta que vai desembarcar daqui uns dias no Rio de Janeiro.

Mas o tempo para o descanso não dura muito tempo. Ela e Kaehma tem um desafio pela frente. A dupla tem como foco o Mundial de classes olímpicas da World Sailing (Federação Internacional de Vela), que acontece entre 30 de julho e 12 de agosto, em Aarhus, na Dinamarca.

Além da disputa por medalhas, o torneio é classificatório para os próximos Jogos

Olímpicos, em Tóquio, em 2020. As brasileiras defendem o título da competição, conquistado em 2014, em Santander, na Espanha.

- Acabou! E chegar aqui foi incrível!

Afirma a velejadora brasileira Marine Grael!

Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean

Brisius, Salén e Litborn têm uma vasta experiência na volta ao mundo, tendo trabalhado com sete campanhas da Volvo Ocean Race ao longo dos últimos 28 anos. Brisius e Salén começaram como velejadores na edição de 1989-90, antes de encontrarem sucesso como gerentes de equipe, incluindo os esforços conquistados com EF Language (1997-98) e Ericsson 4 (2008-09). Mais recentemente, eles administraram o Team SCA, equipe 100% feminina na última edição do campeonato.

Em novembro de 2017, Brisius e Salén foram nomeados presidente e copresidente da edição atual da Volvo Ocean Race.

"A história desta regata mundial é inspiradora e o futuro é muito promissor", disse Brisius. “Esta prova é sobre pessoas e eu estou entusiasmado com as perspectivas de servir alguns dos melhores atletas e profissionais do esporte, bem como os principais parceiros para a regata e as suas cidades-sede.

“Eu tenho tido sorte, pois muitos dos meus sonhos se tornaram realidade.

Primeiro o meu sonho foi velejar nesta prova, depois era de ser um treinador de equipe, seguido pelo meu sonho de gerir uma campanha e agora de poder guiar seu futuro “Estamos nisso a longo prazo e estamos determinados que a regata se fortaleça como um evento mundial sustentável.

Estou ansioso para fazer parte da evolução desta prova única, cooperando em conjunto com as equipes, cidades, Volvo e todos os interessados”.

Dan Ljungsvik

erminou mais uma edição da Volvo Ocean Race. Melhor dizendo – a última edição da regata que leva o nome da Volvo. A Atlant Ocean Racing Spain, liderada por Richard Brisius, Johan Salén e Jan Litborn, assumiu a Volvo Ocean Race do Volvo Group e da Volvo Cars, co-proprietários do evento nos últimos 20 anos.

Os organizadores estão considerando ter duas classes de barcos competindo em 2021, potencialmente com a classe de um design Volvo Ocean 65 existente e outra classe, ainda a ser determinada, competindo na mesma edição.

"Continuaremos a inovar, e é promissor que, desde o primeiro dia, possamos pensar a longo prazo, já que temos os recursos garantidos para entregar a próxima prova", disse Salén.

“Abrir a regata para outra classe existente nos permitiria explorar um inventário de barcos de regata no mundo todo, principalmente que estão vanguarda da tecnologia.

Vemos isso como uma maneira de desafiar os melhores velejadores do mundo, com uma classe que incentiva o desenvolvimento e está na vanguarda do esporte”.

A próxima competição começará em 2021, espera-se que as atividades comecem o mais cedo possível para oferecer aos interessados um longo período de ativação no início, permitindo que as futuras equipes tenham a oportunidade de participar. E construir um extenso programa de treinamento.

A Volvo Cars permanecerá como patrocinadora em 2021, enquanto há uma conversa em andamento já com as cidades anfitriãs e patrocinadores.

“A Volvo Ocean Race tem sido um ótimo veículo para construir relacionamentos com clientes, fortalecer a marca Volvo e apresentar nossa empresa e nossos produtos a um público global”, afirma Kina Wileke, vice -presidente executiva do Volvo Group Communication.

“Depois de vinte anos, sentimos que é hora de entregar a responsabilidade por essa prestigiosa competição a um proprietário novo e capaz, com a experiência e o knowhow necessários para desenvolvê-la ainda mais”, afirma Björn Annwall, vicepresidente sênior da Volvo Cars. “A Volvo Cars continuará apoiando a próxima edição da regata como patrocinadora, com foco especial em sustentabilidade.”

A edição atual da Volvo Ocean Race começou em Alicante, na Espanha, em outubro de 2017 e terminou no dia 24 de junho em Haia, Holanda.

Na água, as regatas foram incrivelmente atraentes e estão se aproximando de um dos finais mais equilibrados da história.

Fora da água, esta edição está estabelecendo novos padrões para o valor de mídia, o movimento das vilas de regata e o engajamento dos fãs, além de gerar um impacto