Global Ocean Race Qualifier week 1 for Jenner and Renken

by Ian Dickens on 24 Mar 2011 Global Ocean Race's only all girl team, Hannah Jenner Anna-Maria Renken are now approaching the half way point of their qualifying sail.

Co-skippers Jenner (30) from Hampshire and Hamburg’s Renken (29) passed the 1,000nm mark of the mandatory 2,000nm qualifier, sailing their Class 40 yacht 40 Degrees from Guadeloupe across the Atlantic to Horta, in the Azores. They are the first team in the race to embark on the qualifying sail.

While both sailors have an impressive CV, this is the first time they have sailed together over a long distance. As Jenner commented 'When we slipped lines in Guadeloupe we had never sailed together, just us, before. We had known each other since our first Skype meeting in October, we had put hours and hours of work into the project and send numerous e-mails to one another but this was our first long distance sailing experience as a team.

'It was quite a big day really. What of we didn't gel on the boat? What if we had had just made the biggest mistake of our sailing careers? After all, two on a boat is an interesting dynamic and it needs to work.

'We spent the first three days as two individuals finding their way around their new world. Of course we were a team but we had not yet begun to develop that partnership, we had yet to find our team rhythm. Then came the turning point, a day of zero wind, searing heat and a good deal of frustration.

'We were both tired and hot and the sail to the Azores was suddenly looking like a very long one. Anna became annoyed about how much fresh water we had on board and I was getting short over the poor boat speed we were getting out of the gennaker. We both sensed one another’s angst and no doubt we both wondered if this would work.

'Well it is working. We left that moment on the last wave and started to see an improvement in how we sailed the boat. We laughed at being tired, smelly and constantly beating to windward. We worked together as a team when we met our first low pressure system and went through a series of sail changes, identifying how we could improve performance. Ultimately we have become completely at ease with the lack of privacy on a Class 40.

'So it is safe to say we are looking forward to the GOR together and we are enjoying our great boat 40 Degrees. We are aware of the challenges that we will face and know that it will not all be smiles and laughter. But this qualifying sail has so far given us a very good taste of what is to come and we can't wait!'

The duo expect to arrive at Horta in the next six days and plan to depart again at the end of the month as they bring the boat to its new UK base in Portsmouth Harbour. The Global Ocean Race starts on September 25th from Mallorca in Spain and routes via Cape Town, Wellington, Punte del Este and Charleston before returning to the Mediterranean in June 2012.

www.globaloceanrace.com