Victorious Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing arrive in Gothenburg

Matt Jones - Editor 12:37 23/06/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Journey is complete: The Abu Dhabi team soak up the moment.

    There were scenes of sheer joy in Gothenburg as Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing arrived on Swedish shores on Monday as winners of the Volvo Ocean Race.

    Team Alvimedica won leg nine, the final off-shore instalment of the 2014/15 VOR, but it is ADOR’s overall triumph that will live longest in the memory.

    – #Quiz360: WIN a gym membership at FitRepublik
    – GALLERY: How ADOR won the Volvo Ocean Race
    – VOR: Champions-elect ADOR set sail for Sweden

    Team Brunel finished second in Gothenburg and claimed runners-up spot behind Abu Dhabi, finishing five points behind Ian Walker’s men. Dongfeng Race Team were third overall, fourth place on the last leg seeing Charles Caudrelier’s men finishing just a point ahead of Charlie Enright’s Alvimedica.

    Overall victory for the Abu Dhabi-backed boat had been confirmed upon culmination of the previous leg eight from Lisbon to Lorient 12 days ago, but skipper Walker and his crew may only have accepted the reality of their triumph when they crossed the finish line at around 15:30 UAE time.

    Even then, it did not quite seem real to Walker, who becomes the first British sailor to skipper a winning team in the VOR.

    The 45-year-old has two Olympic Games silver medals to his name, but he has desperately tried to win the VOR for the last decade, skippering Green Dragon and Abu Dhabi to previous, failed attempts in 2008/09 and 2011/12.

    Three years ago, Walker’s dreams of glory were dashed on the very first leg when ADOR had to turn back to Alicante just hours into the opening leg after a storm broke the ship’s mast.

    It’s something that has deeply haunted Walker for the last three years and you could visibly see the relief wash over the face of one of Britain’s most successful sailors when he was interviewed just after crossing the finishing line.

    “It’s a big day. Volvo Ocean Race champions, it sounds good,” came the words from an emotional Azzam captain.

    “It’s a bit strange. It’s been a while coming. We sort of won in Lorient but didn’t. We’ve been sort of racing this leg but didn’t care too much, then we finally crossed the line. It’s a fulfilment of huge dream but it’s not sunk in yet.”

    Walker paid tribute to his experienced crew-mates, the team’s excellent shore crew, as well as the calibre of opponents they fought, especially Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team who pushed them all the way.

    “I said all along I wanted the most experienced guys and ones I enjoyed sailing with,” said Walker.

    “We have had really strong camaraderie, which stood us in good stead, and we’ve had a really good, strong shore team.

    “We knew (with the new one design boats) we wouldn’t get the advantage from the boat, sails or mast, so it had to come from the people. “I can’t thank everyone enough for what they’ve put into it.”

    Speaking about the win, Walker said he was always confident, but the team had to rely on a fair dose of luck too.

    He said: “I was confident from the start. There are 100 ways to lose, and only one to win. No matter how good you are and how well trained your team are you still need lot of luck, especially with guys that have been sailing against us.

    “There have been some tough opponents. Everyone’s won a leg, it’s a very competitive fleet, and it wouldn’t mean anything if you weren’t sailing the best sailors in the world.”

    Walker also touched on the fact that going through such pain on previous occasions probably helped him and the team this time around.

    “I think back, firstly to Green Dragon, which I have really fond memories of. We learnt an awful lot even though we weren’t fast enough. We took awful lot from it. It made me come back.

    “The last one (2011/12) was tough, I won’t lie (but) it all built up to winning. We had to go through that pain to learn the lessons we needed to learn and we’ve put it all in place and this time round.

    “Everything’s gone right from the start, almost right on the dot.”

    Walker paused and thought long before answering the question whether this triumph was on par with his Olympic medals, or even surpassed those achievements, in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

    “The best moment of my career? That’s difficult. Olympic medals are special,” he said.

    “This is too and with a bigger group of people, over a longer period of time. The fact we have a country and Abu Dhabi behind us, it won’t really sink in until we get there and see what it means there.

    “Our goal is to promote sailing there and get us on the map and I don’t think we could have done any more to do that.

    “Everyone’s played a role, everyone’s had a part to play. We couldn’t have done it without everyone here.

    “Neal (McDonald, race veteran) is the first person I hired, the person I look up to most in sailing and someone everyone on the boat looks up to.

    “He’s a special guy. In many ways he has been our leader and this is also for him. We’ve got something now nobody can take away from us and we can share it with each other for the rest of our lives.”

    Race CEO and former VOR competitor, Knut Frostad, described ADOR’s win as an “inspiration”.

    “It’s a huge day for Ian, the race and for Abu Dhabi too,” said the Norwegian.

    “He (Walker) has tried it twice and will be the happiest man in Gothenburg. Big congratulations from all at Volvo Ocean Race to Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

    “It’s an inspiration and no doubt a big sporting moment in Abu Dhabi and it will hopefully inspire lot of sailors in the UAE and the Middle East to embark on sailing career.

    “Everyone in the UAE has been following it and we have huge TV figures and it’s been on all front pages of the newspapers.”

    Frostad was not surprised by Azzam’s triumph.

    He said: “I thought they were one of the teams that could do it. They were well prepared and had a good bunch of guys on board.

    “Had Dongfeng not broken their mast (on leg five) things could have been different but all in all you have to give Abu Dhabi huge credit for their consistency. When it’s mattered they’ve always been on the podium.”

    Recommended