Chinese leaders change crew for Volvo fourth leg
Sanya (China) (AFP) - Volvo Ocean Race leaders Dongfeng Race Team have made four changes to their eight-strong crew for the fourth leg that sets off for Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday.
The team, which became the first from China to win a leg in the 41-year-old round-the-world offshore race last month, have a game plan to blood as many of their six Chinese rookies in the crew as possible with the ultimate ambition of building popularity of the sport in the world?s most populous nation.
That has led to two of the Chinese who helped them to Leg 3 victory from Abu Dhabi to Sanya ? Liu Xue (English name ?Black?) and Cheng Ying Kit (?Kit?) ? making way for Chen Jin Hao (?Horace?) and Yang Jiru (?Wolf?) for the next stage from China to New Zealand.
A bigger call has been to confirm the pre-race plan of giving French navigator Pascal Bidégorry a breather for the 5,264-nautical mile leg with a member of the previous race?s victorious Groupama crew, Erwan Israel, also from France, taking his place.
Additionally, Swede Martin Strömberg returns as a senior member of the crew (pit and trimmer) at the expense of young Australian, Jack Bouttell.
That adds up to quite a carousel of switches, especially in a winning team, which is defying pre-event expectations.
However, skipper Charles Caudrelier (France) told a news conference on Friday that there was no intention of veering from the team?s main ambition of introducing a new generation of Chinese sailors to offshore racing?s toughest challenge.
?In an ideal world we would not make all these changes, for sure, but this is part of a project. We could easily take the best couple of Chinese sailors and keep them on the boat but that?s not in the deal,? he said.
?I have six sailors in my team (from China) and I want to keep them improving. I?m more thinking about the future, about the Chinese guys in the next Volvo Ocean Race,? added Caudrelier, whose team are protecting a one-point lead over Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing with six legs to go.
?By the end of the race, I want all of them to have sailed two or three legs in the race ? that?s my goal.?
The nine-month, 38,739nm event started in Alicante, Spain in October and is scheduled to finish in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27. It will eventually have visited 11 ports and every continent.
Latest standings (after Leg 3 of 9 - lowest points wins):
1 Dongfeng Race Team (CHN) 5 pts, 2 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE) 6, 3 Team Brunel (NED) 9, 4 Team Alvimedica (TUR/USA), 5 MAPFRE (ESP), 6 Team SCA (SWE)
