Volvo Ocean Race - What a difference an year makes

by Dongfeng Race Team on 23 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race - No doubt we can all look back to a year ago and think, wow, how different things were back then. Perhaps you found love, maybe you found a new job, maybe you’ve been promoted, gained more experience, healed a broken heart or even learnt a new language? Maybe you found new friends, put past feuds aside or made an important decision?

Whatever your personal achievement, no doubt we can all agree a year is a good amount of time to make a difference. Just ask Horace and Wolf.

As the crew of Dongfeng Race Team cross the Atlantic, never before has the gap of past experience amongst the crew been so acute. For the French guys onboard, this is just another transatlantic, Thomas Rouxel has crossed the Atlantic 10 times and Kevin Escoffier a further nine times. Pascal Bidégorry has broken world records and Charles Caudrelier and Martin Strömberg have crossed the Atlantic three times with the Volvo Ocean Race alone, not to mention all the times in between.

But for the Chinese sailors onboard Dongfeng it’s a very different story. Their first ever transatlantic crossing occurred this very time last year. Never before had they been to America, never before had they sailed in such cold waters, in fact, never before had they sailed in such high winds. The transatlantic training of last year was a real turning point for the Chinese sailors. Still in the middle of the recruitment process, Skipper Charles Caudrelier and Team Director Bruno Dubois, decided it would be the final test. It would make or break the Chinese sailors and leave Charles in a position to decide who would join his final race crew.

The Chinese sailors were nervous but it was Charles who was really on edge, this was the final hurdle in the recruitment process and he knew that the crossing would show him if his team could really be competitive or not. “I remember being on edge and I remember how little experience the Chinese sailors had,” he recalls just before leaving Newport. “With Pascal the other day we were talking about this, when we think back to how they struggled then and how they pushed through it’s impressive. How far they have come between then and now is almost unimaginable to most people. These men are determined, there’s a reason they’re here.”

“When I think back, I just have the feeling that time has passed by so fast, it has already been a year. It’s not easy to go this far. Not only me, but also the entire Chinese crew and shore crew,” explains Yang Jiru (Wolf). “The first transatlantic was tough but I feel confident now. I just remember that if I hadn’t made that selection last year I would be in school now and I would never know what it was like to have huge waves take you out,” he smiles remembering the time he was knocked over by a ginormous wave in the Southern Ocean. “I wouldn’t know the feeling of true achievement that this race brings. This past year could have been so different.”

Before leaving Newport Charles Caudrelier reminded his team of the last time they crossed the Atlantic together. “Remember the last time we made this journey. Think of the Chinese sailors who completed the transatlantic last year who we didn’t take in the final team. You are here because you deserve it, remember that.”

As the team take first place in the last position report (from fifth to first in six hours) we can only imagine the sense of achievement the Chinese sailors feel. In just over a year they have gone from never having sailed a night offshore to leading the fleet across the Atlantic. What a difference a year makes.

Days at sea: Five
Distance to finish: 1,550nm
Position in fleet: From fifth to first in six hours
Boat speed: 20 knots

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