Volvo Ocean Race - Bull in a China shop

by Brunel Sailing on 22 Mar 2015 Cristiano Ronaldo stands ready to take a free kick. Real Madrid’s star player has positioned the ball carefully about eight yards outside the penalty box and prepares to curl the ball over the wall into the furthest corner of the net. Then suddenly a new player comes running onto the pitch and explains to the star in detail how he can take the kick in a different way. Ronaldo nods. He’s interested. Why not?

That another footballer would dare to give Ronaldo a tip is probably stretching the imagination too far but an incident just like that took place earlier this week on board Team Brunel. Dirk de Ridder was flown in at short notice to replace the injured Laurent Pagès. During the in-port race in Auckland, the Dutchman immediately stamped his mark on the team. “Not so high, Bouwe,” said De Ridder to the men who had already been sailing this boat for more than a year. “Don’t lean on the sheet, Jens.” Sacred cows were being unceremoniously rounded up. Dirk de Ridder is a kind-hearted bull wandering quietly through a china shop.

“If you say something, it has to be clear,” laughs De Ridder. “But good sailors also expect you to point things out. If you don’t say anything, it means that you have nothing to add. Then they’re quick to dismiss you.”

De Ridder has built up an enviable track record over the years. In the Whitbread Round the World Race of 1997/98, he finished second with the Merit Cup team. In the following race, now called the Volvo Ocean Race, he took first place with Illbruck Challenge. In 2005/06, he was again second in the Volvo Ocean Race, now with Pirates of the Caribbean skippered by Paul Cayard. And in 2010, Dirk de Ridder won the prestigious America’s Cup with BMW Oracle Racing.

“A breath of fresh air,” is how Gerd-Jan Poortman describes the arrival of De Ridder, a.k.a. “Cheese.” “It’s good that there’s someone from the outside sailing with us. And he takes no prisoners.”

“De Ridder doesn’t change everything straight away,” says Louis Balcaen. “But he is someone you listen to. A great guy.”

“I’ve worked with a lot of sailors but this is really a good group,” continues De Ridder. “They’re hard workers. I’ve known sailors to take the first flight home after the first leg and never come back. A disastrous atmosphere. That’s certainly not the case here.”