Volvo Ocean Race- Womens crew at Boot Camp in Lanzarote

by Volvo Ocean Race on 11 Jun 2013
The women of Team SCA are not taking it easy at their Lanzarote training base. The physical strength and sailing skills of the all-female entry for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 are being put to the test and crewmember Sam Davies confesses she has sore muscles – and is having a lot of fun. 'The set-up is everything a sailor could dream of,' wrote British sailor Davies on her blog. 'We have a team of coaches made up from some of the best Volvo sailors and specialists in various on-board responsibilities, physical trainers and doctors. We also have an amazing shore team and team base in Puerto Calero.'

first official entry for 2014-15, Team SCA has been training on the Canary Island of Lanzarote since January and the pace is relentless as they prepare to make their appearance as the first all-female crew in the race in over a decade. 'We know that physically this will be very, very tough,' comments Davies, 'so we are concentrating hard on our physical training in parallel with the sailing. This means that several times a week my body hurts all over from all this training, but I can feel the improvement already. 'Despite the fatigue and the early starts, the team spirit is high and it is fun to go training and push ourselves.' Along with solo sailor Davies, four other candidates have been confirmed: fellow Briton Annie Lush, Australians Sophie Ciszek and Liz Wardley and Carolijn Brouwer of the Netherlands. ??

2014-15, all-female teams will race with 11 sailors, compared to eight in all-male teams. Candidates from all areas of the sport have been trailing for the much coveted places in the final crew selection. A third sailing and training session is due to start next week and the focus of the team is to pull together a preliminary all-female crew of 8-10 who, with their coaches, will sail the Fastnet Race on their VO70 training boat, the repurposed Mar Mostro. The team’s brand new Volvo Ocean 65 is currently being assembled at Green Marine, in the UK. The One Design boat will be delivered after the Fastnet and after a series of sea trials in the UK, the team will sail it to Lanzarote and continue their training. Meanwhile Team SCA has also chartered two Farr 45s to use for team building sailing for SCA employees and guests. So far this summer the boats have been in the UK and Holland. Later this week they will sail to Sweden and start preparing for the ÅF Offshore Race (Gotland Rund), which will be sailed with an all-female and an all-male crew made up of SCA employees.