Vestas, the world’s leading wind energy company, was yesterday announced as the seventh and final boat for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 and will be one of the vessels that will challenge Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in the eight month endurance race.
Apart from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team Vestas Wind will join Team SCA (the first all-women’s team to compete in the race since 2001-02), Dongfeng Race Team, Team Brunel, Team Alvimedica and a Spanish team, whose title sponsor has yet to be announced, on the start line.
Six-time world champion Chris Nicholson, who will be contesting his fifth race, will skipper the boat and work is already well underway to ready the Danish company’s team for the race start in October.
“It’s an honour to be skipper of Team Vestas Wind. They have unmatched expertise in harnessing the power of wind and together we can use our knowledge to take on this challenge,” said Nicholson, who has twice represented Australia at the Olympics.
Two Danes, Nicolai Sehested and Peter Wibroe, will feature in the eight-man crew.
Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad believes that Team Vestas Wind is a perfect fit.
“Vestas is a global company which is completely focused on wind energy and making the world a cleaner place for generations to come,” he said.
“Overall, I’m delighted that we will have seven teams on the start line, all racing the brand new Volvo Ocean 65 one-design boats, a concept that was introduced only two years ago.”
This is the first time in the race’s history a team has joined the lineup this late.
“I think it’s going to be a fascinating story to follow how well these guys can do. They’re clearly much later in the water than everybody else but they have the same equipment and they have a good blend of experience and youth in their team. I think they’re someone to watch,” added Frostad.
Nicholson, who will be announcing his full crew within the next two weeks, acknowledges the other teams will have a leg up on them considering they’ve had more time to prepare.
“So far it’s been a tremendous amount of work in a very short period of time and if we can keep that momentum going we’ll find ourselves in good shape for the start,” said Nicholson.
Asked whether he believes they can win the race, he added: “I think at this stage that’s not my concern.
“We’re very realistic with what we need to achieve but also in the background we know the end goal is that we want to be there on the podium.”
The boat will face its first test on water later this month as the crew prepares to sail the 2,000 nautical miles qualifying distance, a pre-requisite for joining the race, which starts with an In-port race in Alicante, Spain, on October 4.
