Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 CEO Knut Frostad talks (Part III)

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 4 Sep 2014 Sail-World talked to Knut Frostad, the Volvo Ocean Race CEO a few days after it was announced the Danish company was sponsoring the seventh entry in the 2014-15 Race. Here is part three in that interview series (there are links below to parts I and II).

Knut Frostad - ‘Vestas is the world’s largest wind energy company and their business is wind turbines. I started talking to them a couple of years ago, when a major sponsorship was not on the agenda. They had a small sponsorship with Paul Larsen and his speed program and they liked that.

‘They are very strong financially so we approached them again recently when the opportunity came up suddenly.

‘As it happens now both the Chairman and CEO of Vestas were in the management of Ericsson when Ericsson was sponsoring boats in two races so they had a very good experience of the race and knew the value of it.

‘That helped the timing lots because we didn’t have to explain the values of the race as much as we have to do when we have to sell it from scratch. That was a very important factor but also it worked with the strategy Vestas has now going forward and the timing was really perfect.

‘ Some people say that’s lucky but I always say when you sell a sponsorship to a company timing is one of the most critical factors and that is lucky, every time you do that. It’s unlucky when you get a no because you might be there at the wrong time.

‘But the timing was perfect and so now Denmark is entering the race, with a top class skipper Chris Nicholson and a seasoned crew and a great sponsor.

‘As these boats will be used for two Volvo Ocean Races, there are additional sponsorship opportunities,

‘Obviously we can do a lot more with the boats now that we have a one design fleet, so races like the Sydney Hobart and the Fastnet could be on the calendar post this year’s race..

‘Moving back to the progress up to 2014-15 race, as we speak five of the seven boats are racing in the SevenStars Round Britain and Ireland Race and this is a great step in ensuring boats, crews and systems will be ready to go in October.

‘To preserve the time buying element of the one design concept, two boat testing is strictly forbidden. That is a very important point for us because if we open up two boat testing, basically would have lost at least half the value of the one design concept because the whole idea of one design buying time would be dramatically reduced because the early starters would have a huge advantage over everyone else.

‘But we allow Volvo Ocean Race competitors in races we have preapproved and there are several reasons why. One is because we also have an interest in showcasing the fleet like we are doing now. It gives us and the sponsors the possibility to tell the story.

‘The other benefit of the SevenStars event for instance is that we can test systems. We know we have some technical challenges we are facing and this is the first time we have had the opportunity to really test our systems. We are very happy we have a little bit of time left before now and the start. Then we have Leg Zero off Alicante which is the next time all the boats will race against each other.

‘I am very happy they have got tough conditions in the SevenStars. The tougher conditions the better for us and the boats because we rather have those conditions now rather than having them on the first day of the leg like we had in 2005 when the boats sailed into their first storm on the first night.

‘Right now the timeline is tight. The first boats will be arriving here in Alicante in last week of August and they all have to be here on 8th September.

‘That is what we call the assembly date and then they are all just getting ready for what we call Leg Zero which starts on Friday 12th and racing for two and a half to three days.

‘Before and after that race the crews will be going through some drills and rehearsals and proving to us that they have all their man overboard drills in order and all their safety equipment tested and they are going to show us how they are going to steer the boat without the rudder etc.

‘Then from Sunday 14th September, the first boats start being hauled out of the water and immediately all of the boats go into this management sequence where there is a two week period for the big overhaul service for all the boats.

‘That’s done by the Boatyard here, all the shared services. The service programme is going to be fascinating because this is like your factory with boats lining up and they are going through a programme one by one and they are moving up the ladder and moving across this huge boatyard that they are setting up now where everything has been gone through, keels and rigs and electronics and some small changes are going to be made based on what we are learning now in the Round Britain Race and optimisations on all the boats to make them 100% and then also the measurers are now controlling the boats as they have the boats by themselves now.

‘We have James and his guys who are running the class rule and the measurement. They are checking that the boats are still 100% like they were delivered and that everything is 100% one design and that they are weighed and checked and calibrated if anything is wrong. That’s going to be an important thing. It is going to be the first test of the shared services to check how well that works.

‘While that is happening some teams are doing some specific training. The OBR are being trained. The medics are having their medical extra training and their safety courses etc., and all the teams will go home to take a break.

‘Then the boats are back together pretty much two weeks after that so when we get to the end of September, the last week, that’s when the boats are back in the water and the teams come back here and then they start sailing, training, getting everything ready.

‘Then the next step for them is the practice in the first day in October and then the in port race on the Saturday October 4th and then the Leg One starts on Saturday October 11th.

‘Right now the clock is running in the Volvo Ocean Race control room just metres from my office and there are just 34 days until the racing action Interview Part Interview Part II