Puma's rotation policy - Kirby out till Leg 5 VOR

by Volvo Ocean Race media on 12 Nov 2008
Puma Ocean Racing bowman Jerry Kirby has revealed that business interests in America will keep him out of the team’s offshore crew until leg five.

It was announced last week that the 52-year-old veteran was making way for an undisclosed amount of time, but Kirby, whose construction company employs 130 people, confirmed he would return after taking care of business at home.

Initially that will be for the Singapore in-port race, but his offshore return will come when the team sets sail in February on the 12,300-nautical mile marathon from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.

It is part of skipper Ken Read’s wider plan for crew rotation and was pre-arranged when the team first formed a year and a half ago.

In an interview with Volvo Ocean Race Radio's Guy Swindells, Kirby said: 'It’s what we talked about when we started the team. I have a business. Kenny recognised that and he and Kimo (Worthington, the team’s general manager) said ‘look, this early in the game we haven’t named all the other players so we’d like you on the long hard legs but the logical time to take off was between Cape Town and Qingdao. It is the least amount of sailing and the biggest block of time.

'But it’s much better as a rumour, ‘old guy gets flicked’. I like that story!'

Kirby admitted his desire to sail all the legs, but was forced to prioritise his business. 'We are in the hunt to win the Volvo and I’d rather do every leg but honestly I can’t. Right now there is a financial Armageddon going on at home and I’ve got 130 employees that count on me to bring in some pretty big jobs. I need to go pay attention to that for a bit.

'As long as no one gets hurt I’ll be back in Qingdao. There are no easy miles on these boats.'

'We want to use the front four in the rotation.'

Read spoke at length ahead of the race start on the importance of crew preservation and Kirby revealed the dynamics of the rotation policy would ideally see the afterguard preserved.

He said: 'Kenny had a good plan. He said if you looked at this race pragmatically you would have 20 crew. The drawback of more people is the expense. Secondly, most guys want to do the whole lap. Thirdly, the continuity of the same guys is an advantage.

'We took the logical step of trying not to rotate trimmers or drivers or skippers or navigators but use the front four in the rotation. The whole idea is to win the Volvo. If it looks like we can bring someone in for a leg that can give us a competitive advantage then that’s the plan.'

Read was surprised by the degree of speculation caused by the switch that saw Kirby and Jonathan McKee replaced by Shannon Falcone and Robbie Naismith respectively.

'This is something we have had planned since minute number one,' he said. 'I’m kind of stunned it has created a controversy. There’s really no other sport where you expect the hard working sportsman to be out on the field the whole time. This is gruelling.

'Jerry told me when I first asked if he would be interested that it would have to be like the Pirates in the last race where he did half the race. He has a very successful company that needs him. Hopefully we will keep a bunch of bodies rotating and fresh and at the end of the day I think it will prove to be good for the team.'

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