The Ocean Race Europe Prologue -

Childhood 1 VO65, training in Scheveningen before the Ocean Race Europe. Scheveningen, The Netherlands © Sander van der Borch

On Monday, May 17th, Team Childhood I took the overall victory in the Prologue of The Ocean Race Europe, by finishing second in the last stage. The young Swedish - Dutch team had to leave the stage victory to AmberSail (Lit) after a short but challenging stage of about 200 miles.

Childhood I is now heading for home port The Hague, The Netherlands. After a short pit stop, the team will head from The Hague to Lorient, France for the start of The Ocean Race Europe on May 29th.

Little to no sleep

Onboard the Childhood I, in addition to three-time Olympian Pieter Jan Postma (NED) and regular skipper EJ van Housselt (NED), no fewer than nine sailors under the age of thirty. Among them the 26-year-old co-skipper Jelmer van Beek (NED).

Van Beek: "This was another challenging stage. About 200 miles along the coast of Sweden to the South. We took the lead but as soon as the wind turned against the boys and girls on AmberSail came back up. They still go a little bit faster upwind. This gave us an interesting match race in the dense fog. Very early in the morning we actually stopped with our watch system, and nobody went to sleep anymore. Everyone was just trying to make the boat go as fast as possible."

28-year-old navigator Max Deckers (NED) adds to Van Beek: "This stage could be divided into two parts. Before the transition, it was all about boat speed and having the right sail up, whereas during and after the transition we had to be adaptive and flexible on the positioning of the boat. We managed to get through the transition quite well which led to an interesting one-on-one race with AmberSail. We were within a couple of hundred meters of each other for more than four hours, but in the end, they just managed to finish in front of us. But we can be proud of the end result as a team. "

Swedish Julius Hallström (25): "To be honest I was a bit tired after all the attention during our Stockholm visit, my hometown. But when you are back on the boat and racing again, you quickly forget that. The feeling of this victory and of being part of this team is unique."

The victory of the new generation

Three-time Olympian Pieter-Jan Postma, on board as a coach to guide the learning process, was proud afterward. Postma: "We have taken a giant step as a team in recent weeks. We have asked a lot of ourselves and each other. We started this last stage somewhat tired. And made a few small mistakes. Despite that, we have continued to believe in each other and kept fighting. In this stage that resulted in second place. Enough for the overall victory. This is truly the victory of the new generation. It is a wonderful process with great people."

Pressure cooker

Laura van Veen: "The prologue was a pressure cooker process for the team, a lot of learning points came up during the races we did. But we also developed a lot of confidence and trust. Our victory in the second stage increased confidence and the urge to win this prologue. We had discussed beforehand that this prologue would be about the learning process, but when you are that close you also want to win. As a team, we are very proud that this has been achieved."

Van Beek: "I'm looking forward to The Ocean Race Europe itself. We are learning a lot with this young team, but I am also really looking forward to working with more experienced men like Tienpont, Poortman, Verbraak, and Van Niekerk. These four great sailors have the experience of the previous races. With them on board, we can only get better and stronger. With Viva Mexico, AkzoNobel Racing, and the Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, three more teams will be added on the water, so in The Ocean Race Europe, we will compete with seven instead of four boats. That promises to be very cool!"

The Ocean Race Europe

May 29th 2021 - Leg 1: Lorient, FRA - Cascais, POR
June 6th 2021 - Leg 2: Cascais, POR - Alicante, ESP
June 13th 2021 - Leg 3: Alicante, ESP - Genua, ITA

Crewlist Prologue

1. Jelmer van Beek (NED) - co-skipper
2. Rutger Vos (NED)
3. Max Deckers (NED)
4. Laura van Veen (NED)
5. Arianne van de Loosdrecht (NED)
6. Lars van Stekelenborg (NED)
7. Robin Jacobs (NED)
8. Julius Hallström (SWE)
9. Matt Whitehead (SA)
10. Pieter Jan Postma (NED)
11. E.J. van Housselt (NED) - skipper

Overall standings Prologue The Ocean Race Europe

1. Team Childhood I
2. Sailing Poland
3. AmberSail
4. The Austrian Ocean Race Project