With the win, Bekking’s Brunel is just three points off the lead, meaning the final two European legs will be more important than ever. Although Brunel sits in third place this morning, the Dutch entry is riding a wave of momentum.

Leg 9, from Newport to Cardiff, day 7 on board Brunel. Peter Burling at the helm. 25 May, 2018.

Since the team hit a low point at the conclusion of Leg 6 after arriving in Auckland with a sixth-place finish, Bekking and crew have posted a 1-2-1 scoreline, including important wins on the final two double-point scoring legs, to move from also-ran status on the leaderboard to holding down a firm grip on a podium position with an eye on the top spot.

“We’re very happy with the result – to beat the two red boats (Dongfeng and Mapfre) was the objective,” Bekking said after crossing the finish line. “Winning of course is nice, as well as to get the bonus point and then a nice fight to beat AkzoNobel in the end as well, so we’re a happy team.

“But the aim is to keep looking forward. We’ve closed the gap to Mapfre and Dongfeng and victory remains our main objective.”

To earn the leg win, Bekking had to fend off fellow Dutch skipper Simeon Tienpont’s team AkzoNobel, who had held a nominal lead of a few hundred meters just hours before the finish.

But in the strong currents and light winds of the Bristol Channel, Bekking and his crew found a way to claw back in front and then protected over the final miles to take the win by just 4 minutes and 05 seconds over team AkzoNobel.

Leg 9, from Newport to Cardiff, arrivals. 29 May, 2018.

For Tienpont’s AkzoNobel, Leg 9 will be long remembered for the amazing record-breaking effort the team made in setting a new standard for 24-hour distance run in the Volvo Ocean Race.

On Friday, in ideal conditions, the team AkzoNobel crew obliterated the previous race record set in a Volvo Ocean 70 by Ericsson 4 in 2008. The new mark is a 602.51 nautical mile, 24-hour run.

“This was an incredible race,” Tienpont said from on board at the finish line. “I’m unbelievably proud of the crew. We kept pushing all the way to the finish line and we’re happy with second place.

“We enjoyed setting a record that hopefully will be hard to beat. It’s been a leg full of emotions and we’re looking forward to the last two legs. We’ve done unbelievably well since Melbourne. From there onwards we’ve scored more points than Mapfre and Dongfeng. So the confidence is there and as a crew we’re enjoying it so much. We’ll just keep fighting and do what we did on this leg.”

Dongfeng Race Team skipper Charles Caudrelier has elevated his team to the top of the race leaderboard for the second time since the start of the race. With a sixth podium finish the most consistent team in the race controls its own destiny at the head of the fleet.

“It’s nice, but it’s a very small lead to Mapfre and now Brunel as well who are making a fantastic comeback,” Caudrelier said dockside after the finish. “It’s going to be interesting for fans to follow as the race is far from finished. The level is very even and it’s a big fight for every place… we would have preferred an easier finish.”

While Brunel has been ascendant on the last three legs and Dongfeng consistently among the leaders, MAPFRE roared out to a fast start in the opening legs but has struggled of late.

Even on the recent leg into Newport, which was scored a win, the Spanish team trailed for nearly all of the leg, making a miraculous comeback from fifth to first in the final 24 hours. The team will need to regain its early form if it is to make one more comeback and win the race.

“It hasn’t been an easy leg for us. It’s been painful from day one and we never could catch up,” said skipper Xabi Fernández. “But looking forward we feel confident. Hopefully we can start well and fight boat to boat over the next two legs.”

Scoring a fourth-place finish on the leg was Charlie Enright’s Vestas 11th Hour Racing. The team has prided itself on its podium finishes, but this leg marks its worst result across the finish line in the race.

However, having missed three crucial legs in the middle of the race, the team’s position on the overall leaderboard is all but locked in at fifth place.

“It was a disappointing leg from a results standpoint, but that doesn’t take away from what was a good crossing for the team,” Enright said. “We’ve overcome a lot more than just a bad result in this race and now we have two legs left to put our best foot forward and end on a good note.”

Volvo Ocean Race Projected Leaderboard after Leg 9

1. Dongfeng Race Team – 60 points
2. MAPFRE – 59 points
3. Team Brunel – 57 points
4. Team AkzoNobel – 48 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 36 points
6. SHK / Scallywag – 29 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 26 points

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Jacobsen, with the help of Team Brunel and their VO65, set the new Tow Up World record at 277 meters, beating the old record, 244 meters, from Jesse Richman by 33 meters. The old record, done behind a speedboat instead of a sailing yacht was standing for over four years.

The Tow Up

The attempt was engineered to perfection prior to the attempt. More than 500 meters of line was dragged behind the boat, where Jacobsen connected himself too. The speed of Team Brunel took care of the actual lift. Team Brunel member Kyle Langford, who is a fanatic kite surfer himself, was in control releasing the 800m line on the winch that connected Jacobsen to the boat. After reaching the maximum length, Nick safely paraglided down to the water in 66 seconds.

Nick Jacobsen

Team Brunel

Team Brunel is one of the seven participants in the Volvo Ocean Race. The team is led by the Dutch skipper Bouwe Bekking, who lives in Denmark. The Volvo Ocean Race will continue on Sunday when the boats are leaving Cape Town for Leg 3 to Melbourne.

Nick Jacobsen

The 30-year-old Dane, Nick Jacobsen is no stranger to doing extraordinary things with a kite. In April this year he jumped off the third tallest building in the world, the Burj al-Arab, with a kite. He also won many big freestyle kiting events all over the world.

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Prologue onboard Brunel. Photo by Rich Edwards/Volvo Ocean Race. 09 October, 2017

The Spanish MAPFRE team won the Volvo Ocean Race Prologue Leg on Wednesday, holding off a late charge from Team Brunel after Race Management shortened the course, converting the compulsory gate at Cabo de Gata into the finishing line.

For skipper Xabi Fernández and his team, it’s a continuation of the success MAPFRE found on Leg 0, where the team was the overall winner of the four-stage leg.

“It’s all good on board,” Fernández said shortly after crossing the ‘virtual’ finishing line.

“It’s been really good training. It’s been a close race and I’m really happy with the team’s performance.”

Close behind the winner was Team Brunel.

Both of the leading teams owed their performance in large part to a decision they took early in the leg, shortly after the start, when they hugged the coast of Portugal in contrast to the rest of the fleet further offshore.

The coastal route paid in a big way, and less than 24-hours after the start, MAPFRE and Team Brunel held a decisive lead over the fleet, turning this into a two-boat race for victory.

But the chasing pack had a hard-fought battle for third place, with team AkzoNobel squeaking in just ahead of Turn the Tide on Plastic and Vestas 11th Hour Racing.

Leg Zero, prologue start on-board Brunel. Drone photos, Brunel in foreground, fleet in the distance. Photo by Rich Edwards/Volvo Ocean Race. 08 October, 2017

“We had a very good race, very enjoyable. Good close racing,” said skipper Simeon Tienpont. “We were in the game all the way. MAPFRE and Brunel went a different route which worked out for them, but with the rest of the fleet we took the best we could out of it and I’m very confident after finishing in third place.”

At the back of the pack, Dongfeng Racing held off Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag.

With the shortened course putting the finishing line some 120 miles away, the teams will now motorsail to Alicante, the start port of the Volvo Ocean Race. The event Race Village opens Wednesday evening, with entertainment, ceremonies and fireworks.

The teams are expected to arrive beginning in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday, ahead of practice racing on Friday and the MAPFRE in-Port Race Alicante on Saturday. Leg One of the Volvo Ocean Race starts on 22 October.

Volvo Ocean Race Prologue Leg – Positions and finishing times (UTC), 11 October

1. Mapfre; finished 09:49 UTC
2. Team Brunel; finished 10:06 UTC
3. Team AkzoNobel; finished 12:44 UTC
4. Turn the Tide on Plastic; finished 12:53
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing; finished 12:59
6. Dongfeng Race Team; finished 13:09
7. Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag; 13:17

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Team Brunel, Lanzarote, Spain

Hailing From: The Netherlands | Skipper: Bouwe Bekking | Navigator: Andrew Cape

Team Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking is making a run at his eighth Volvo Ocean Race in a Herculean quest to win it once and for all, after coming so close in the previous edition. As if the task of competing isn’t difficult enough, Bekking has made it all that much more complicated by joining the race months before the start — without a team, a boat or a single sailor on the payroll. In any other hands, such an approach would be destined for the back of the fleet, but Bekking, 54, is an old hat with a proven track record to lead a team to the podium.

“All of a sudden, Jan Brand, the founder of Brunel, said, ‘Just do it,’” says Bekking. “He guaranteed private money, and then we got the go-ahead from Brunel’s board. It was a lot of things that had to happen in a short time, but we pulled it off.” The team will be quite different this time says the Dutchman, but will include two or three guys from the previous crew and then some “brand-new young kids from the America’s Cup.” He was looking at integrating female sailors into the campaign as well.

In the past, Bekking enjoyed months and years to build his team, but the one-design concept allows him to now plug-and-play his sailors. “It’s different than the old days where there were efficiencies before the start. While it’s always nice to have the time and budget to do it three years ahead, so many of our crew are out there racing with other programs, and they have commitments already, so it makes it especially challenging to start early.”

By midsummer the clock was ticking ever faster: There were only three months on the calendar, but really only 14 days of sailing available to him given pre-race haul-out commitments and boat preparation. “At least we have the data from the last race, he says, “which for us is a very good starting point. We have a good idea where we need to be with the new sails; it’s not rocket science. The data might be a little different, but we will catch up at an early stage and see how we are.”

Bekking’s decades-long commitment to the race comes down to one simple fact: He genuinely loves the offshore experience. “The sailing is the most important part,” he says. “I’ve won a lot of races and I’ve tried at this one enough, but it’s still missing. Sure, there are moments where I do hate it, but the challenge of building up a new team is strong this time.”

He admits that they’ll be on the back foot initially, but there are many miles and many opportunities for other teams to make mistakes or experience mishaps, just as his team did in the previous race. His pragmatism is a strength of his leadership style. “I tell the guys, ‘You know what you’re starting with and taking it on, you’ve chosen to be here, so you’re going to have to give it 100 percent.’”

The early key hire for Bekking is his navigator, Andrew Cape, who sailed alongside him in the previous race, and navigated five other Volvo teams before that. He can practically route the course in his sleep, but he’s known for not sleeping much anyway.

While boatspeed is important in this race, says Bekking, the navigation remains a big part. “It’s a team effort, and if the navigator sends you in the wrong direction, the best drivers in the world will take you very fast in the wrong direction. A lot of other teams have put their emphasis on having top drivers, but there are so many more aspects to winning this race.”

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The Dutch just love the Volvo Ocean Race. They already boast the most successful skipper of all-time, Conny van Rietschoten, with two overall race victories to his name – and soon they will also be able to lay claim to the most experienced Volvo Ocean Race sailor of all-time, in Bouwe Bekking.

At the age of 54, the Team Brunel skipper is returning for his eighth edition, and he’s as hungry as ever to claim that elusive first win.

“It is obvious what my motivation is to come back to the Volvo Ocean Race. That is to win this bloody race”, says Bekking, who finished second with Team Brunel in the last edition.

“I think it’s still a realistic goal. That’s the big advantage of the One Design rule, because we have all the data from the last race. Correct data is one of the most important things when doing the Volvo Ocean Race, so that is a good starting point for us. In addition, the crew that I am looking at will be very experienced. It is a matter of getting the chemistry together within the team. I have a good feeling about that and I have shown in the past that I can put teams together in such a way that bonding is happening.”

The need for experience is balanced with the campaign’s them of ‘Engineering the Future’ – an initiative launched by a consortium of Dutch companies, including Brunel, Abel, Royal Huisman and EY. “We’re looking to build a mixed crew with a winning pedigree, and some under 30 guys and girls,” adds Bouwe. “That’s the direction that we are aiming at. We are searching for sailors worldwide, because Brunel is an international company and the other partners are interested in an international approach as well.”

With less than four months to go until the fleet lines up on the start line, does Bouwe feel like he has enough time to prepare for a tilt at the trophy? Is it already too late?

“No, I don’t think so,” he replies. “If you look at team AkzoNobel, they only started sailing 2 weeks ago. In that sense, we are not late at all. Of course, it would have been good to have more time, but we are not far behind the other boats.”

“We first need a crew and the boat needs to be fully branded. We must change the mast and the dagger boards, so we will be ready in the third week of July.”

In terms of crew selection, Bouwe is already working on putting a race-winning squad together. “I am seriously talking to about sixteen people. This morning, I already received about 50 or 60 requests by e-mail,” he says. “I know the guys that I have been sailing with, so I have to look at their characters and their strengths. Also at which person has time and experience, because we will need to swap around some crew, due to obligations. We need to get the whole puzzle together.”

Bekking made his race debut in 1985-86 on board of Philips Innovator, skippered by fellow Dutchman Dirk Nauta. In over thirty years since then, he has done six more races. He has dedicated more than half of his life to winning the Volvo Ocean Race, finished as runner-up twice – and he is still there.

“Maybe it’s an obsession, but I just love the Volvo Ocean Race. It’s the best sailing that you can have. My main driving points to keep coming back are: fighting the elements with a small team and getting good results. But a lot of people say that I am obsessed and probably even more than that say I’m crazy.”

What about your wife, daughter, family and friends? “They are fully supportive. If you don’t have their support, you should not go on a journey like this. Otherwise you can say your marriage goodbye and that is too precious to me.”

It’s not just Bekking who can’t get rid of the Volvo Ocean Race ‘bug’ – the world’s best sailors have been obsessed with winning the trophy for decades.

“The race has a name”, explains Bekking. “It is the pinnacle of offshore sailing. It is one of the things, like the America’s Cup and the Olympics, that sailors want to tick off. People know that it’s the best sailing that you can have – and it’s also a fantastic way to learn about yourself, so maybe the personal challenge of ‘can I actually take this race on’, might also be behind it.”

So why do the Dutch have such a passion for this race, which began back in 1973 in Portsmouth, England? “It comes back to a very old heritage. Every school kid has learned about Michiel Adriaans de Ruyter, a well-known Dutch admiral, and the Nova Zembla stories.

“As a small child in the Netherlands you already know about Holland is a seafaring country. In addition, the Dutch love for the race has been strengthened by Conny van Rietschoten, who won the race twice. That was probably the first time that sailing was on Dutch television. There were great documentaries about both victories.

He continues: “Since then, we have been nearly in all the races. It has greatly been picked up, because sailing is a fantastic sport. The Dutch journalists are also doing a good job in the way they are covering the race.”

Talking about the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race, Bekking considers all teams as ‘big competitors’. “Some have started early, others later, some have a lot of experience with the boat and the race, some less, but after all as seen in the last edition, everybody can win a leg. In that sense, I think the next edition will be exactly the same as the last one.”

Do you feel extra competition with team AkzoNobel? “No, I don’t think so, but of course we both represent the Netherlands. Saying that, it’s always good if you can beat your fellow countrymen.” He laughs: “It would be a perfect scenario if we come first and they second overall on the finish.”

To the question what would be his advice to Simeon Tienpoint as first-time skipper in the Volvo Ocean Race, Bekkings concludes: “Just delegate, don’t do it yourself.”

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Knut Frostad used to say that the Volvo Ocean Race was like an addiction and if that’s the case then we should pity Bouwe Bekking as a pretty hopeless case.

Minutes after The Hague was been announced as the final stop for the 2017-18 race he was grinning from ear to ear like a kid with a free run in the candy store.

He may have lapped the globe seven times with the race – a record-equalling feat – but Bekking is already counting the days before the next race.

“It’s fantastic news,” he says, looking toward the prospect of victory in The Hague in June 2018. “But, hey, you can’t start until you have the money together. It’s one step at a time.”

It’s a rare note of caution from a man who delights in voicing exactly what is on his mind without letting little matters like diplomacy or political correctness get in his way.

Volvo Ocean Race sailors, and especially skippers, are usually a fairly tight-lipped bunch, sticking rigidly to the company line in dealings with the media. Bekking breaks that mould into 1,000 pieces by saying whatever the hell he likes, sending the sailing press into raptures and leaving PR guys ducking for cover.

Race communications crew still remember with a blush his comments at the outset of the last race in October 2014 when he told a packed Alicante press conference that he didn’t care too much for the in-port race series.

The sailing community, however, almost universally likes him. Bouwe has star quality and charm in equal measure when he turns it on.

He’ll turn 53 this summer, but the Dutch skipper of Team Brunel from the 2014-15 looks as fit and enthusiastic as ever. He hasn’t slowed down after the podium Volvo Ocean Race finish either, Bekking enjoyed a very successful winter sailing with 60 per cent of his Brunel crew in the Caribbean

He turns serious, briefly, when he talks about an eighth tilt at the one serious piece of sailing silverware, which has eluded him in a 30-year plus stellar career.

Three times he has finished runner-up in the Volvo Ocean Race, including last time with a hand-picked crew with Team Brunel.

“I have two ambitions: to skipper it again and, of course, to win it,” he says.

“In 2014-15 we had a very good result, a result I’m proud of, but I believe we can make further huge steps based on the experience we now have with the one-design boat.

“I can tell you now I don’t even think about the record (of eight appearances). I think I can say I’m pretty successful in all the big races – but I just haven’t won this bloody race.

“When I don’t learn any more I won’t sail any more because other people will over-run you. But I know I have the capabilities to win this race because I have the capability to learn and get better. Plus I have all the experience that gives you something extra too.”

Bekking, as ever, is leading from the front with his plans for 2017-18 and another Dutch campaign.

He faces a crowded market place with no less than three Dutch operations including his own pitching for sponsorship from The Netherlands.

He says the Dutch campaigns are all in regular touch with each other and work together so there’s no double approach to the same individual sponsors.

“What’s been interesting is seeing how many companies have approached us this time. I think they can now see the impact of the race, especially here in the Netherlands.“

It’ll be a busy spring and summer, no doubt, but Bekking as ever will be beavering away until he’s secured that prized berth once more for the greatest race on the planet.

He’s an addict of this race, a pretty hopeless case.

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But they’re millennials, and when has age ever stopped them from achieving their dreams? The Under 30s are part of the generation that has consistently said, “If the job isn’t there, I’m going to create it for myself.” And that’s exactly what these young Volvo veterans are doing.

1. Rokas MileviCius, 28
Rokas Milevicius found it challenging to come off the race and lose that sense of intensity when he moved back home to Lithuania: “The hardest part is going from the serious [work], working at 100 percent all the time, to day-to-day work. I miss the high energy we had for two years of training and the Volvo Ocean Race. Now that it ended, it feels like I have nothing to do. So I’m gearing up for whatever comes next. I’m taking every opportunity to sail. I know my weaknesses and I’m working on those. I’m in the gym. My goal is to be always ready for what’s  next.” Milevicius always wanted to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race, and even when he applied for Team Brunel, he thought the odds were against him. “To become a professional sailor is to achieve one of my biggest dreams,” he says. “Now I’m fighting for a dream [to sail the race again], and I’m never giving up.”

2. Justine Mettraux, 29
Justine Mettraux might be the next Samantha Davies. In 2013 she went from finishing second overall in the Mini Transat straight into training with Team SCA. Now she’s back into solo sailing, working on her Figaro campaign for 2016 and the next Mini Transat. Needless to say, Justine is one busy woman.

“I wouldn’t say there’s pressure to find work because of my age, but because of my gender,” she says. “I’m not expecting the future to change after Team SCA’s campaign, because it hasn’t in the past. Women have a marketing edge, especially in solo sailing. But I’m not expecting the calls, so I have to go out and get them myself. You have to build your campaign yourself as a woman. [Fortunately] there are more sponsorship opportunities for women because there are less women solo sailing, and women are proving they too can have good results.”

3. Elodie Mettraux, 30
Elodie Mettraux is on the hunt for more racing experience, more sea time, and a sponsor for the 2016 Tour de France à la Voile — none of which have come delivered to her front door. She’s going out to get them all herself.

“After the Transat Jacques Vabre, Libby Greenhalgh [Team SCA], Fletcher Kennedy [shore crew Team SCA] and I are sailing a Class 40 back to France from Brazil,” she says. “I am using this to promote my sailing career, but I’m also looking to get sponsors interested in my team and myself. We’ll have an extremely small budget for the trip, but it will be a good opportunity to gain more experience navigating and sailing. “I have to practice more and keep sailing. I have to stay active. I have to take these little jobs because I really want to sail the Tour de France à la Voile with a solid mixed or all-female crew. I’ll try to find my own sponsor until February 2016, and then, if nothing happens, I’ll begin making phone calls to be a part of someone else’s team.

“Before the VOR, I wasn’t working as a professional sailor, so I didn’t have a sponsor prior to the race. The Volvo Ocean Race changed my career, and I want to continue to sail at the highest professional level.”

4. Nicolai Sehested, 25
Nicolai Sehested, a crewmember with Team Vestas Wind, is not technically employed, but he is certainly staying busy. Like Milevicˆius, Sehested feels it’s hard to go back to normal life. But at the moment, his main goal is getting results. “Because results speak for me,” he says. “I wish sailing was more like mainstream sports, and that results spoke more for the sailor instead of networking. [Because it’s so often] networking, it’s the same sailors who get the jobs, so the younger guys don’t get a chance. I’m creating my own team, since you can’t really rely on anyone else and it’s too risky to wait. So I’m going to keep racing, keep myself busy, but always be ready.”

Volvo Ocean Race 2014 – 15 Leg 6 to Newport

5. Carlos Hernandez, 28
Sailing in the Volvo Ocean Race with Team Mapfre was a dream come true for Carlos Hernandez. “Since I was young I followed the race,” he says. “I was close to getting into the last edition with the second Spanish team, but the project did not succeed. I finally got the chance to sail in this edition, and I hope I have the opportunity to sail many more times.

“It feels like people look at you in a different manner when they know you’ve done the Volvo Ocean Race. The whole time I was learning from the best sailors in the world, and I wanted to take advantage of this. I was like a sponge. Because my goal is to sail in the next race, I want to always keep sailing at a high level. I go to the gym to keep fit, I’m sailing in the Sydney Hobart Race, and I’m sailing as much as I can, even in other classes, so people see I’m active and have energy to face new challenges.”

6. Mark Towill, 27
Mark Towill is unique among his Under 30 peers in that rather than hoping for one of the coveted Under 30 spots, he created his own young team with co-skipper Charlie Enright. Touted as the “young guns” of the race, Team Alvimedica finished fifth overall, but they laid the foundation for another go at it. While Enright was the face of the team, Towill was the resourceful general manager keeping the program in check. With the experience of his and Enright’s sponsorship hunt from the previous edition, Towill is back to knocking on boardroom doors full time.

“From where I’m sitting, the phone is not going to ring, so I have to go out and get those opportunities,” says Towill. “I want to do as much sailing with Charlie and the core players of the team as possible, but we also have to focus on the real goal, to do the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race, which is a full-time job.

“It’s all about balance. We’ve always been young guys making our own opportunity. Now we’re seeing an increase in younger teams, self-organized around a goal. We want to be a youthful American team, which we believe sets us apart, but we’re competing against ‘traditional’ sports.

“My single biggest goal is to win the Volvo Ocean Race with an American-supported or mostly American team. It feels like our first race was just about doing it, and now it feels like unfinished business.”

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The Dutch team led by Bouwe Bekking will be featured in a film coming to theatres in Europe and a following online release in mid-February.

The film profiles the team and the efforts that went into putting them on the podium by both sailors and shore crew.

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“There’s no question he brings the highest level of experience,” says Brunel watch captain Jens Dolmer, one of Bekking’s earliest recruits. “He has a clear goal to win.”

With early backing from Brunel, an international recruiting company, Bekking wasted little time selecting an international squad from 600 applicants. His veteran sidekick is Andrew Cape, of Australia, entering his sixth edition. As the most experienced navigator in the race, the critical decision-making relationship between Bekking and Cape will allow Bekking to be more involved in the physical sailing of the boat.

“We are prepared,” says Dolmer. “We trust each other, and it’s a good mix of experience. For sure the key for all of us is to enjoy the new boat and win the race, but I think we have a strong team, and we understand what it takes.”

Like their counterparts on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, the primary focus of the campaign has been on gathering performance data on the Volvo Ocean 65. They completed their qualification sail early, got their promotional tour in Holland out of the way by mid-summer, and were confidently race ready by August.

“Every maneuver we’ve done has been in race mode,” says Dolmer. “We’ve done a lot of maneuvers so many times we know exactly what do to, but the challenge remains in finding different sail setups, and the best angles to steer—that will continue throughout the race.”

“We are prepared, we trust each other, and for sure the key is enjoy the new boat. We have a strong team, and we understand what it will take to win.”

Team Brunel, Lanzarote, Spain

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