Volvo Ocean Race – Dongfeng Race Team recruits top sailor for leg 5
by Dongfeng Race Team on 6 Mar 2015
Dongfeng Race Team - Volvo Ocean Race 2015 - Leg 5 Dongfeng Race Team
Dongfeng crew changes: Foxall on, Rouxel off, Bidegorry is back, and Riou returns as leg 5 Onboard Reporter.
What happens when you put four French sailors, two Chinese, one Swede, and an Irishman together on a carbon speed machine? Sounds like a corny joke, it isn’t…
Ireland’s top sailor Damian Foxall is the latest recruit to Dongfeng Race Team and what does he love most? In a nutshell, offshore racing and going fast, making him the perfect candidate to join the crew on what is, undoubtedly, the toughest and longest leg (6,776nm) of the Volvo Ocean Race. Ahead for the determined men of Dongfeng Race team, as the race heads into the dangerous Southern Ocean, are freezing temperatures and the risk of ice, huge waves and storm force winds – it will be a new and different experience for the Chinese sailors.
Damian has competed in four Volvo Ocean Races so far, racing with Charles Caudrelier on board the winning Groupama sailing team last time. 'I am delighted to be back ‘in the saddle’, this will be the tenth round the world event that I will be involved with and my eighth rounding of Cape Horn,' said Foxall. 'It is a privilege to have the opportunity to join Charles and the boys onboard Dongfeng who have been doing such an exemplary job. My role is to fit in as seamlessly as possible and to bring the benefit of a fresh person to the team. It is hard to overstate the difficulty of the Volvo Ocean Race for the sailors and teams, the longest sporting event in any sport, and it is exactly this, the duration, that makes it so hard. A planned rotation of the crew at key times has become a crucial part of any successful teams strategy.'
Setting speed records runs in his blood – Round The World Non-Stop, as a crew member of maxi-catamaran Cheyenne in 2004 and 10 years later another speed record racing around Britain and Ireland on the MOD 70 trimaran Oman Sail. There’s not much Damian hasn’t done when it comes to sailing but the choice of Foxall for leg 5 from Auckland to Itajai, Brazil also comes down to his own solo and short-handed race experience. Three goes and a leg win at the annual Solitaire du Figaro in the late 1990’s (the unofficial world championship of solo sailing that Charles won in 2004) and victory in the two-handed Barcelona World Race in 2008, ensures Damian’s skill set matches those of his French teammates. Damian will replace Thomas Rouxel on this leg, continuing the crew rotation plan set by Charles to ensure his 8-man crew are fighting fit and bringing fresh energy into the team.
Navigator, Pascal Bidegorry, is back and will undoubtedly find the Southern Ocean leg less painful than being stuck on land as he was for leg 4. And Charles has decided, once again, to take Chinese sailors Yang Jiru (Wolf) and, hopefully, Chen Jin Hao (Horace), although some doubt remains over Horace’s fitness and will be decided next week subject to a decision by our team physio: 'For this next leg, I need the most experienced and strongest crew – both physically and mentally – and I know that Wolf and Horace are the right guys to cope with this ‘endurance’ leg,' said Charles. 'It is going to be a tough, freezing cold, big seas and strong winds – only the toughest sailors can endure it. But there is time for Black, Kit, Leo and Kong to get their chance again on later legs.'
Yann Riou is also expected to return for this leg as Dongfeng’s Onboard Reporter.
Leg 5 crew list – Auckland (NZL) to Itajai (BRA), (at least) 6,776nm:
Charles Caudrelier (FRA)?
Pascal Bidegorry (FRA) ?
Martin Strömberg (SWE)?
Eric Peron (FRA) ?
Kevin Escoffier (FRA)?
Damian Foxall (IRE) ?
Yang Jiru (CHN)?
8th (Chinese) crew to be decided
Onboard Reporter: Yann Riou (FRA)
Damian Foxall:
Four Volvo Ocean Race appearances
2001-02 (Tyco)
2005-06 (Ericsson)
2008-09 (Green Dragon)
2011-12 (Groupama sailing team)
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