Love of Ocean Racing rekindled for Liu Xue
by Dongfeng Race Team 20 Dec 2014 13:39 GMT
Dongfeng Race Team take second place in Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race © Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race
Dongfeng Race Team arrived in Abu Dhabi finishing second in Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race behind Team Brunel. This is another fantastic result, which is playing a big part in proving that this team of 'underdogs' have what it takes to contend with the best.
So why were they labelled the underdogs before the start?
Well, first-time Skipper Charles Caudrelier chose a rather controversial selection of professional Western sailors to be the backbone of his team. Choosing predominantly solo sailors and the temperamental Pascal Bidégorry as his navigator, Caudrelier's only 'safe' option was deemed to be Swedish Volvo Ocean Race sailor and 'diesel engine' Martin Strömberg. Not to mention that to create a true Chinese team, that the nation of China would follow and relate to, Charles needed to take on the responsibility of including two or more Chinese nationals in his crew. China is not an offshore sailing nation and the challenge began from day one of this project.
The long term sporting mission of this project is inspire China and teach young Chinese sailors to become elite offshore sailors and it was firmly decided early on that that's exactly what this team of Western Sailors would do. Needless to say from the outside this was viewed as a compromise and the Dongfeng boys were ranked 'least likely to win' in online polls.
It's all in the journey
Liu Xue (Black) has had an interesting journey so far... As a young Chinese sailor (just 21 years old) he is the youngest sailor in the race. As part of the original selection trials Black showed promise early on and was well liked by Charles and his crew.
As referenced in the video, after the first 'offshore' training leg back in February, Black resigned from the project explaining he wasn't sure offshore sailing was for him. He found it boring and uneventful. "You want to know why I think Black quit back then?" says Team Director Bruno Dubois, "Because the training wasn't racing, it was training and he WAS bored."
A month later Black re-joined the training programme after contacting Pascal Bidégorry and gave it another shot. Today he completed Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, one of the toughest races in the world and declared that coming back was 'one of the best decisions he ever made'.
After the team arrived, a press conference was held in the Volvo Ocean Race media centre. Black was sitting next to Charles on stage when a journalist asked him, "You've almost never sailed offshore before, how was your first competitive offshore leg?"
Watch Black explain in his own words here how he has fallen back in love with ocean racing:
Credit where credit is due
Charles Caudrelier, Thomas Rouxel, Pascal Bidégorry, Kevin Escoffier and Martin Strömberg have done an incredible job forming these young Chinese rookies. It will have taken a great deal of time and patience to bring Liu Xue (Black), Chen Jin Hao (Horace) and Jang Jiru (Wolf) to where they are today. There is still a long way to go but as far as representing China goes, these young men are truly doing their nation proud. Equally, without the Western personalities onboard Dongfeng, it would never have been possible.
So, once again, credit where credit is due and here's to a well-deserved second place. Even though we know they would have liked to be first!
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