Volvo OR- The Crown Prince of Denmark wishes Team Vestas fair Winds
by Dan Ibsen & the Sail-World team on 16 Sep 2014
HRH Crown Prince Frderik together with Vestas Wind crew in Cophagen Team Vestas Wind
The three Vestas Wind sailors jumped into a plane for Denmark, not long after crossing the finishing line after the successful Leg 0.
A month ago when Team Vestas Wind launched the project in Copenhagen the interest from the daily media was not overwhelming, but a lot of them gathered today, many of primarily to get a comment from the Crown Prince, who also is a very keen sailor himself.
Crown Prince Frederik was of course proud on behalf of Denmark, and expressed his admiration for what Team Vestas Wind have achieved in such a short time. He is looking very much forward to follow the Volvo Ocean Race in the next year and with special address to the press, he said:
'I have earlier had the pleasure to sail together with another Volvo skipper on the Farr 40 (Bouwe Bekking) and it will be interesting also to follow him.'
Bouve Bekking is living in Denmark – when he not working on a sailing project somewhere in the world. And one of his crew members, Jens Dolmer is also Danish and at the time an experienced VOR crew.
Whether the Crown Prince will get the opportunity to go sailing with Vestas Wind, will depend on his calendar, but if it is not in Alicante in a few weeks, then it might become a possibility for him to try a VO65 at one of the other stop-overs.
'I have to see if I will succeed, but no question about that I very much would like to try', The Crown Prince commented just before leaving the press conference.
A very nice feeling
Chris Nicholson said about the Leg 0 line honors:
'I was really tired when I woke up this morning, but with a very nice feeling. The boat is right now being made ready after the race and checked from A to Z. We are going back to Alicante tonight and there will be complete focus on the In-port races in a couple of weeks.'
Niko is looking forward to meet Sail-World and Danish Baadmagasinet in Alicante, and to show around in the team base and the boat.
Very happy sailors
At the reception, we met three very happy, but also very tired sailors in Copenhagen, the two Danish guys have never sailed a long distance race, but have both climbed to the top 10 at the ISAF World Rankings in match racing.
Peter Wibroe said about the experience with the Leg 0:
'I thought I had tried everything with regard to exiting and close racing during my years in match race, but the last 8 hours, from my watch finished around midnight Saturday and until we crossed the finishing line, was more exciting than I have ever experienced before. I tried to get some sleep, but there wasn’t time for that. The wind was decreasing and we changed sails a lot, and at the same time we were so close to Brunel and Bouve, that we could talk between the boats. It was an intense fight for every meter, and it was really a great relief for the whole crew, when we succeeded crossing the line in front of Brunel. '
Not the fastest - yet
The other Danish crew member, Nicolai Sehested was of course evenly happy with the Team Vestas Wind achievement, and commented:
'We do not yet have the same speed as a couple of the other boats in the front of the fleet, but we were better on the tactics on the route. Chris is truly a capacity on board, and he has a huge experience, which became valuable and decisive on the route.'
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/126707