Volvo Ocean Race - "Wisbang" looking to skipper next time
by Suzanne McFadden, Newsroom.co.nz 1 Mar 2018 00:02 PST
1 March 2018
Leg 6 to Auckland, Day 21 on board Dongfeng. Daryl Wislang happy to arrive in his garden. 26 February, © Martin Keruzore / Volvo Ocean Race
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean just south of New Caledonia - after that unsettling delay between question and answer that you get on a satellite call - Kiwi round-the-world sailor Daryl Wislang sounds a little frustrated.
“I’m struggling to get any news in English on this boat,” says the veteran watch captain on board DongFeng, a Chinese-backed boat with a mostly French crew. Later, I email him the day’s headlines, for which he is grateful.
He also misses his family - his wife Jess, and their two children, three-year-old Pearl and little Theo, who was born in July. They’ve travelled from port-to-port so far in this Volvo Ocean Race to be on the dock whenever Wislang arrives.
But most of his exasperation lies in not getting to Auckland quickly enough. When we speak, after 17 days at sea in the 6100-mile leg from Hong Kong, DongFeng was bringing up the rear of the six-boat fleet as they sailed closer to Auckland. Tail-end Charlie is an uncommon position for this boat - DongFeng has had podium finishes in all of the five legs so far.
Nelson-born Wislang has been on board for all but one of them - the Cape Town to Melbourne leg, which he missed with a back injury. So surely it must sting when you’re not among the first boats to arrive into your home port?
“To me, it isn’t about whether I’m coming into my home port first - I like to be in front at every port,” he laughs. “We’d like to be closer to the front right now, but spirits are still high on board.”
There’s some relief, at least, that the overall race leader, MAPFRE - with America’s Cup hero Blair Tuke on board - is at the back of the pack with them.
“The way Auckland welcomes boats into the city, they give the same welcome whether you’re the first boat or the last. Hopefully we’re not last. But heaven forbid if we are, we’ll still get a good welcome,” Wislang says.
This is 37-year-old Wislang’s fourth circumnavigation of the globe. He won the last edition of the race, on board Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, and has always finished in the top three.
“Wisbang” may not have a rockstar name, but is one of those sailors sought-after for any offshore race boat. His crew-mates describe him as a brilliant driver, and a calm and clever watch captain. He was onboard American maxi Comanche when it set the world 24-hour speed record during the 2015 Transatlantic Race. As DongFeng skipper Charles Caudrelier says: “Daryl is a proven offshore warrior.”
But Wislang has his heart set on bigger things. He wants to skipper his own boat in the next Volvo Ocean Race.
“I don’t like to talk about it too much during a campaign, because I’m here to do a job,” he says. “But it has been an ambition of mine for a while. It obviously depends on one, funding, and two, which direction the race takes, in terms of the boats. I don’t think I’ve got another race in me in these boats [the one-design VO65]. Two races in them is enough. I need something a little more exciting.”
The Volvo Ocean Race has revealed its vision for the future - a foil-assisted 60ft (18.2m) monohull for the ocean legs, and an ultra-fast flying catamaran for the inshore races. Wislang is impressed.
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