2014 -15 Volvo Ocean Race - Today's the day

by Jonno Turner on 11 Oct 2014 2014 -15 Volvo Ocean Race - Final preparations and formalities are complete. If the team's aren't ready now, it's too late...

Sometimes, life at the extreme starts… quietly. It’s a sunny day in Alicante and eight to eleven knots of easterly wind are forecasted for the race start. No rough conditions, no proper tactical options to take – it’s a straight line to Cabo de Gata, the southern corner of Spain.

But it will get messier in the evening. Stronger winds and rain showers are forecast. The fleet will turn west when sailing past Almeria, and face up to 20 to 25 knots of headwinds in the Alboran Sea.

Later on Sunday or Monday morning will come the Gibraltar Strait, some 300 nautical miles away.

Here are the final crew lists, the guys and gals who will take their teams to Cape Town...

Dongfeng Race Team:

Charles Caudrelier, Pascal Bidégorry, Martin Strömberg, Eric Peron, Thomas Rouxel, Kevin Escoffier, Jin Hao Chen (Horace), Jiru Yang (Wolf), Yann Riou (OBR)

Team Alvimedica:

Charlie Enright, Mark Towill, Will Oxley, Alberto Bolzan, Sebastien Marsset, Ryan Houston, Nick Dana, Dave Swete, Amory Ross (OBR)

Team SCA:

Sam Davies, Liz Wardley, Libby Greenhalgh, Carolijn Brouwer, Justin Mettraux, Sara Hastreiter, Stacey Jackson, Sophie Ciszek, Abby Ehler, Sally Barkow, Annie Lush, Corinna Halloran (OBR)

Team Brunel:

Bouwe Bekking, Gerd-Jan Poortman, Jens Dolmer, Andrew Cape, Pablo Arrarte, Laurent Pagès, Louis Balcaen, Rokas Milevicius, Stefan Coppers (OBR)

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing:

Ian Walker, Roberto Bermudez de Castro, Phil Harmer, Justin Slattery, Adil Khalid, Luke Parkinson, Daryl Wislang, Simon Fisher, Matt Knighton (OBR)

MAPFRE:

Iker Martínez, Xabi Fernández, Michel Desjoyeaux, Nico Lunven, André Fonseca, Antonio Cuervas-Mons, Carlos Hernández, Anthony Marchand, Francisco Vignale (OBR)

Team Vestas Wind:

Chris Nicholson, Tony Rae, Rob Salthouse, Wouter Verbraak, Maciel Cicchetti, Peter Wibroe, Nicolai Sehested, Tom Johnson, Brian Carlin (OBR)