A Q&A with Nick Bice about the recent changes for the 2017/2018 VOR

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 28 Nov 2016 While the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) isn’t slated to start until October 22, 2017, these are busy times at the race’s Alicante, Spain base as a series of changes have been rolled out for the 2017/2018 edition of this high-profile offshore event. These changes include a new CEO (Mark Turner); significantly more time spent sailing in the wind-swept depths of the Southern Ocean; a openness to female sailors, all-female teams and mixed-sex teams; premium team bases; a loosening of internet restrictions for the sailors on the new “crew communicator” platform (read: more media coming off the boats), and a rotating crew of Onboard Reporters (OBRs) who will be operating as a separate corps, rather than part of a dedicated team, and who will be tasked with the mission of presenting the life aboard a VOR raceboat for international fans.

Additional changes include a still-undisclosed eighth team (whose boat is currently under construction); M32 multi-hull sailing to accommodate hospitality/VIP inshore sailing days, and mandatory participation in two qualifiers events, namely the Fastnet Race (August 6, 2017) and the VOR’s new Plymouth, UK to Lisbon, Portugal Race, which collectively constitute “Leg 0”, as well as the new “Prologue Race”, which will take crews from Lisbon, to Alicante, where they will remain until the VOR’s official start on October 22, 2017. Finally, teams will also be using hydro-generators to power their onboard electronics.

While these are big changes, they are clearly aimed at keeping this prestigious race at the forefront of international sailing, while also ensuring that the VOR is open and welcoming to a wide range of sailors, fans and potential sponsors.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Nick Bice, a two-time VOR participant and the VOR’s current director of boats and maintenance, deliver a keynote speech to an audience of marine-industry professionals and official VOR suppliers at the 2016 METS trade show in Amsterdam. I caught up with Bice after his presentation to learn more about the new directions that the race is taking for thirteenth edition of this storied offshore adventure.

What you see as the biggest challenges for the Volvo Ocean Race moving into the 2017-2018 edition?
One thing we’re concentrating right now is getting teams on the start line. The boats themselves are in fantastic shape. The suppliers that we have involved in supporting the boatyard in doing the refits are all very supportive, so I don’t have any issues with the boats. So it’s a little bit of a patience game at the moment just to ensure we get those teams on the start line.

We’re in a pretty unique position [in] that we’ve never had all the boats built [this far] before the race, and that’s what we have right at the moment. So some teams may come along later, some teams are maybe bidding their time, some teams are just waiting to announce [their campaign for the 2017/2018 VOR] when it suits their particular market.

The biggest mission at the moment-[and one that’s] not necessarily an issue-is getting teams on the start line. But as far as long-term issues, I don’t envisage much at all.

The media program has changed quite a bit for this next race. Can you give me your thoughts on what kind of footage spectators will be seeing now that things are opening up a lot with the onboard reporters?
I mean there’s no doubt that there’s a hell of a lot of [race-related footage and] information out there. So we need whatever information there is to be high-impact. So what we are doing with the OBR scheme, and by using the rotation [scheme] is that the OBR is someone behind the camera. Not someone whose part of the team, [but] someone [who is there] to catch the real story, the raw content, the raw story. We want to basically be that fly on the wall for the whole race.

We may have hours and hours of footage but we’re going to search through it, we’re going to make the best stories out of it, and create the best content.

So who makes the decision as to what footage leaves the boat? Does the OBR have total control over that, or is there a filter?
There will be a filter. What we want though is the teams to trust us in the Volvo Ocean Race that the footage that does come off the boat goes through our own internal filter. And if we’re told specifically nothing is to come out on a particular topic, we won’t let it out. So it is pretty hard to break that trust though.

By all means if something happens onboard and the skipper says, “Look, I don’t want that off that boat.” That’s fine, the OBR totally respects that, respects that position, because he or she has to get along with the rest of the team for the whole duration of the leg as well. Could be a pretty long leg otherwise.

But you need the lowlights and the highlights to make a story. Something that’s just a constant line is not really a story. So we need to capture the lowlights so we can turn it into a great story at the end of the race.

How do you see the much more significant involvement of female sailors changing the story of the next VOR?
Commercially, hugely, I think it reflects and mirrors a lot what’s happening in corporate society. It also reflects and mirrors what’s happening in business. There is no reason that the legacy that [Team] SCA left behind [from the 2014/2015 VOR] should not be carried on. I could name ten female sailors [right] now that should be on these boats.

It’s true [that] we change the balance to tip it a little bit in favor or not, of having female sailors onboard. But we really do hope that we get enough out there. We also hope that there is an all-male team, we also hope there is a mixed team, and also hope that there’s maybe seven males and two females. We do want to mix it up, and then let’s see what really works best. It’s theoretical at the moment.

Tell me about the boatyard scheme and the team bases. Where do you see the improvements for the sailors, and the teams, and also for the spectators?
The official supply status that we have with all our suppliers here, all the cost savings are directly given back to the teams. So there is a fee that the teams need to pay to be a part of this race. But that fee does not include everything that all suppliers that are here today [at the METS trade show] are giving to the teams. They go directly to teams. That’s the advantage of creating something, creating with the One Design, and rolling it out across all the boats, and the teams see the advantage in that.

The spectators will get an upfront view of the boatyard and the team bases as well, correct?
Absolutely, we’re total open-door policy with everything we do, we’ve got nothing to hide. We want to have a showcase around the world. We want create almost a mini trade fair so we can showcase new products, showcase new materials, showcase what our suppliers and new suppliers can bring to the Volvo Ocean Race.

Anything else you would like to add for the record?
What’s going to happen in the next six months is going to be a pretty big, [and I believe it will] pave the way for the next ten years of the Volvo Ocean Race.