Volvo Ocean Race: Another German on board?

The mere possibility seems like a bright light on the gloomy German professional horizon, in which only a few stars keep rising: Robert Stanjek from Berlin is fighting for a place in the Dutch Team Brunel for the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race. The Olympic sixth in the Star boat confirmed this to YACHT online on Wednesday evening on enquiry.

The 32-year-old was invited to Holland for tests and interviews by Team Brunel's skipper Bouwe Bekking at the beginning of the week. Stanjek was one of around 300 candidates who had applied for the last two places in the Dutch team of nine sailors. Around 30 of them had received an invitation to the Netherlands at the beginning of the year. Stanjek's programme included several interviews with psychologists and skipper Bekking on "a jam-packed, professionally managed and smoothly run day". In addition, various medical examinations, strength and endurance tests. "It was fun, it was really great. I have a really good feeling. You also have to say that it was a huge experience for everyone - regardless of whether they end up taking part or not. There are only two places left. The air is thin up there at the top," says Stanjek, "but I'll know next week."

The calm and well-trained athlete knows that the bar is extremely high. His direct rivals include Olympic medallists such as Finn sailor Pieter-Jan Postma, who made life difficult for eventual winner Ben Ainslie in the 2012 Olympic final off Weymouth. Bekking pitted his only German candidate Stanjek against the giant in the very first rowing duel in front of the television cameras.

"Pieter-Jan is an active Finn sailor, I'm a retired start boat sailor," joked Stanjek later. Nevertheless, he was almost on a par with the Dutchman in the 3000 metre rowing duel on the machines and left an impression on the observers with his performance.

"Ocean sailing," says Stanjek, "has always interested me. I really became aware of this type of sailing when I took part in the victorious Illbruck campaign at the beginning of 2000. That was the first time I really got to grips with the subject. And then Timmy Kröger sowed the seeds: he enabled me to take my first steps in long-distance offshore sailing with his trust and a place in his team in the Nord Stream Race."

Kröger, a two-time circumnavigator and America's Cup participant, approached Stanjek and integrated him into his Nord Stream team as a tactician and helmsman without any previous ocean racing experience. In 2012 and again in 2013, they have now completed 2000 nautical miles together. "It's very important to me to give talented people a chance when I have the opportunity," said Kröger. "Robert is willing to work hard, does not mind anything, is very inquisitive and analytically strong. He definitely has the potential to develop his Olympic qualities on the high seas. He is also loyal, very sociable and you can have a lot of fun with him."

The fact that the team's main sponsor, the management consultancy Brunel International N.V., has around a quarter of its employees in Germany could benefit Robert Stanjek in his application. But he has to be convincing on a sporting and personal level. Above all, the man with whom he wants to fight for victory in the twelfth edition of the race around the world at its seventh Ocean Race start: Bouwe Bekking. The Dutchman, who is also well known in Germany for his previous stints on the "Rubin" yachts of Admiral's Cup winner Hans-Otto Schümann, will decide which two of the last 30 candidates should make his team strong.