Regatta debut for the Mean Machine VO70

The Mean Machine team begin testing and training for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09 © Sally Collison / Mean Machine

It’s been five month since Peter de Ridder’s team acquired the VO 70 currently used for training in preparation for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The moment has arrived for the Mean Machine Volvo Ocean Race team to take to the water and compete in their first regatta. The 70-footer with the characteristic flames on the bow of its black hull is heading home to Holland, to take part in the North Sea Regatta.

This is the first race date for the Mean Machine round the world team. Peter de Ridder, Ray Davies, and Dirk de Ridder’s project will hit the starting line in the Dutch waters of Scheveningen on May 15th, where they will then head for the English coast.

The first offshore leg is between Scheveringen and Harwich, and covers a distance of 110 miles. Arrival on UK shores is forecasted for the daybreak of the next day, but the Mean Machine crew will have to wait until the 18th of May to take part in the second of the long distance legs.

For that leg, racing will be in the opposite direction, as the teams complete the Harwich - Scheveningen offshore leg also rounding some marks and with 180 nautical miles in length.

The CEO of the Mean Machine Syndicate, Peter de Ridder, and the Operations Manager, Dirk de Ridder will have some of the familiar faces from their TP52 Medcup Circuit team on board and the Mumm 30/ Farr40, as well as experienced ocean sailors such as Jules Salter and Jono Swain. Youngsters like Simeon Tienport and Gert V.d Heijden will also join them, but they won’t be the only promising young stars on board.

Peter and Dirk de Ridder will confirm their commitment to a policy of nurturing young talent by bringing in sailors from other projects in the Mean Machine family for this regatta.

Dirk de Ridder is very positive about this fresh challenge for the Mean Machine team: “With Mean Machine, we feel it is important to race the boat as much as we can. Also with the new season starting in Europe we feel that the North Sea race is a good race to start of with. The 2 races are 110 miles and 180 miles long, which will take us from Schevingen to Harwich and back again after 2 days of rest in England”, adding, “The team will be skippered by Peter de Ridder for this race because the Volvo skipper Ray Davies is sailing in the afterguard with Team New Zealand in Valencia”.

But winning is not the only objective in the Mean Machine sights for this race: “It will be a good opportunity to sail the boat as a team and see how we get on. We’ve also got to build a few new sails and systems on the boat for the new rule in the next race, and we want to try those out as well”.

The spirit of Mean Machine as a sailing platform will shine through yet again, as just for this race core members of the Volvo crew sail alongside the team’s TP52, Mumm30 and even Farr 40 class sailors.

As well as the official crew, the powerful VO 70 Mean Machine will also welcome a special guests aboard, who’ve definitely earned the privilege of joining the crew for this regatta. He is the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race Grinding Competition held at the 2007 London Boat Show.

During the winter months the team worked hard on many of the core aspects relating to the design of the future VO 70 that they will take to the Volvo Ocean Race. Much investigation and research has gone into areas such as sail development, where tests were carried out in wind tunnels in New Zealand; and also load tests, using the VO 70 test boat. It is important that Mean Machine number 21 is just right.