A new navigator and the retention of two-time Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux on land should give Spanish team Mapfre a boost after their opening defeat in the Volvo Ocean Race. Experienced Jean-Luc Nélias, who inspired the victorious Team Groupama in the last edition of the race around the world and was already available to Mapfre as a weather expert, will replace navigator Nico Lunven, who was unfortunate on leg one. Michel Desjoyeaux will also remain on land when the starting signal is given for the second stage from Cape Town to Alicante on 19 November.
A statement from the team said that Desjoyeaux had never planned to sail the entire race anyway. Desjoyeaux himself said: "The decision that I will no longer sail on board Mapfre was made jointly by the team and myself. Such decisions are not easy to make, but they are part of the life of a team. Even though I'm no longer part of the sailing crew, I haven't wasted my time. Mapfre is a great team with really good guys on board." The team will announce his successor in the coming days.
Apart from some minor technical damage to the engine, batteries and equipment, the team's boat had arrived in Cape Town in far better condition than the sailors' psyche, for whom seventh and last place in leg one had meant a heavy opening defeat. Shortly before the finish, the proud Spanish "matadors" were also intercepted by the women's team SCA because they had sailed into a wind hole at the foot of Table Mountain and got stuck there for hours. The team had already made several positioning errors during the opening leg. The Spanish boat will go back into the water on Tuesday and will then be prepared by the shore and sailing crew for the harbour race on 14 November, before heading back out to sea on 19 November over 6,125 nautical miles, heading for Abu Dhabi.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
