Volvo Ocean Race – Tienpont back to skipper team AkzoNobel for Leg 1

by Volvo Ocean Race on 22 Oct 2017 Simeon Tienpont will skipper team AkzoNobel in Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Alicante to Lisbon on Sunday, after Race Management approved a new crew list submitted by the team shortly before the dockout.

A total of eight sailors will be on board for the 1,450 nautical mile leg to Lisbon – including Dutchman Tienpont. That crew composition satisfies requirements for safety, gender and age as per the Notice of Race.

The new crew list is as follows:

Simeon Tienpont - skipper
Brad Farrand
António Fontes
Martine Grael
Luke Molloy
Ross Monson
Emily Nagel
Nicolai Sehested

The team has been in flux since it was announced that original skipper Simeon Tienpont had left the team and was replaced by watch captain Brad Jackson last weekend.

On Friday evening, Tienpont won an arbitration judgement allowing him to return to the team and just hours before start time, the team submitted an updated crew list with Tienpont leading a newly constituted squad.

In a statement released by the team, Tienpont commented: 'This has obviously been an incredibly difficult time for everyone involved since we arrived here in Alicante just 10 days ago. I have now reached an agreement with AkzoNobel and all parties now want to put this behind us and focus on our campaign for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18.

“I would like to thank Brad Jackson for stepping up at such a challenging time to keep team AkzoNobel moving forward with our preparations for the race. Thanks also go to Joca Signorini and Jules Salter for their contributions to the campaign so far and also to Rome Kirby. We are grateful to Sun Hung Kai Scallywag team owner Seng Huang Lee and skipper David Witt for loaning us Antonio Fontes for this first leg.

“Personally, I am relieved to be back with my team and excited to be getting our Volvo Ocean Race campaign underway.”