Volvo Ocean Race News - Telstra Sydney to Hobart 2000

by Lizzie Green on 21 Dec 2000 Four of the registered syndicates for the
Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 have entered boats for the 2000 Telstra
Sydney-Hobart Race and one other Volvo Ocean 60 will be among the 82
yachts taking part in the annual 630 nautical mile classic. In addition, key
members of another registered syndicate will form the nucleus of the crew
aboard a 79 foot light displacement boat, not dissimilar in style to a Volvo
Ocean 60.

Last year, Nokia, the former Swedish Match from the 1997-8 Whitbread Race,
skippered by Stefan Myralf and Michael Spies, broke the Hobart Race record
in near perfect conditions, sailing to cross the finishing line in the Derwent
estuary in 1 day 19 hours 48 minutes and 2 seconds. The record had
previously stood to Hasso Plattner's IMS-Maxi, Morning Glory, at 2 days 14
hours 7 minutes 10 seconds, but the downwind speed of the Volvo Ocean 60
totally shattered the bigger boat's time.

This year, for the four syndicates who will compete in the Volvo Ocean Race
in V.O.60s, there is more to the Telstra Sydney-Hobart than the 630 miles or
the race record. This is a full-on dress rehearsal for the third leg of next year's
Volvo Ocean Race and will continue, as that race will, with a further leg
across the Tasman Sea to Auckland after a three hour pit-stop following the
finish of the Hobart Race.

The four syndicates involved for the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 who will be
taking part this year are Assa Abloy Racing Team, Illbruck Challenge, Team
News Corp and Team Tyco. They are joined by the record holder, Nokia, for
the race to Hobart, but not for the leg across the Tasman while the skipper
and some of the nominated crew of Djuice Dragons will race aboard Nicorette.

Assa Abloy is the former Chessie Racing from 1997 and is jointly skippered
by Roy Heiner (NED) and Mark Rudiger (USA), both of whom raced around
the world last time, Heiner skippered BrunelSunergy after the first two legs,
and Rudiger as navigator of the winning EF Language. The technical director
of this challenge is Magnus Olsson, a four-time Whitbread veteran.

The crew for Assa Abloy for the Sydney-Hobart will be declared after sailing
trials in Sydney.

Illbruck raced the last Whitbread as EF Education with an all-woman crew
and is now skippered by John Kostecki, an Olympic silver medallist in the
Soling Class in 1988, and tactician to Paul Cayard on AmericaOne in the
Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland 1999-2000. Illbruck has carried out a two-boat
campaign along with the Whitbread winner EF Language over a three year
period leading to the Volvo Ocean Race.

The crew includes:

Stu Bannatyne - watch captain
Stu Bettany - helmsman/trimmer
Mark Christensen - watch captain
Ray Davies - helmsman/trimmer
Dirk de Ridder - mast
Ross Halcrow - helmsman/trimmer
Toni Kolb - bow
Juan Vila - navigator
Richard Clarke - helmsman/trimmer
Jamie Gale - mast
Ian Moore - navigator

News Corp is the unraced Merit Cup from 1997, used simply as a trial boat for
Grant Dalton's challenge but now in the hands of a syndicate managed by
former Whitbread winner, Ross Field. The boat will be skippered by Britain's
Jez Fanstone, one of the Silk Cut crew in 1997.

The crew includes:

Steve Cotton - watch captain
Alby Pratt - sail co-ordinator/trimmer
Justin Slattery - bow
Julian Salter - navigator
Nick White - meteorologist
Phil Airey - trimmer
Andy Beadsworth - helmsman

Tyco was the Merit Cup which Grant Dalton raced to second place in the last
Whitbread and with which he competed in the 1999 Fastnet Race as Yess.
She will be skippered by a four-time round the world crewman, Kevin
Shoebridge in his debut as a skipper. Shoebridge has been with the past four
New Zealand America's Cup campaigns.

The crew includes:

Steve Hayles - navigator
Brad Jackson
Ian Stewart
Tim Powell - helmsman
Jonathan Swain
Gerry Mitchell - trimmer
Jan Dekker
Simon Fry - trimmer
David Endean
Guy Salter

Djuice Dragons' core crew members will be aboard Ludde Ingvall's 79 foot
Nicorette. Knut Frostad will co-skipper the boat with Ingvall, and in addition to
tactician Ed Baird, there will be four other Djuice Dragons' crew for the
Sydney-Hobart Race.

The start of the 56th Telstra Sydney-Hobart Race will be at 1300 hours local
time on December 26th, 2000.

Links:
Sailsail.com Information page on the Volvo Ocean Race