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Volvo Ocean RaceSustainable commitment: Vestas does it again

Tatjana Pokorny

 · 20.03.2017

Volvo Ocean Race: Sustainable commitment: Vestas does it againPhoto: Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race
Vestas in the last Volvo Ocean Race
The ocean marathon has gained another new member: Team Vestas, which ran so dramatically onto a reef in 2014, is celebrating its comeback - with a new line-up

On 29 November 2014, Team Vestas, sailing under the Danish flag with skipper Chris Nicholson and navigator Wouter Verbraak, made headlines around the world. Around 250 nautical miles to the north-east, "Vestas" ran aground on a reef during the second leg. Nobody was injured in the accident, but the team missed several legs due to the complex salvage process and the necessary re-installation of the yacht and ultimately had to admit defeat after a promising start.

Made a good impression on their debut in the last race as rookies: Charlie Enright and Mark Towill will once again be racing as a duo and take command of the Danish-American Vestas 11th Hour Racing campaignPhoto: Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica / Volvo Ocean Race Made a good impression on their debut in the last race as rookies: Charlie Enright and Mark Towill will once again be racing as a duo and take command of the Danish-American Vestas 11th Hour Racing campaign

Navigator Wouter Verbraak was criticised at the time and was the only one to leave the team. The internationally sought-after strategist later described his experiences and the reasons for his departure in a book. Skipper Chris Nicholson, on the other hand, did not take any personal consequences after the incident, finished the race, but will not return - at least as "Vestas" skipper.

The picture of the unfortunate stranded "Vestas" went around the world in 2014Photo: NCG Operations Room / MRCC Mauritius The picture of the unfortunate stranded "Vestas" went around the world in 2014 Anyone who thinks of "Vestas" in the Volvo Ocean Race has this image from 2014 of the stranded boat in mind. The team is competing to be at the front in the next editionPhoto: Brian Carlin/Team Vestas Wind/Volvo Ocean Race Anyone who thinks of "Vestas" in the Volvo Ocean Race has this image from 2014 of the stranded boat in mind. The team is competing to be at the front in the next edition

As the newly formed Vestas 11th Hour Racing team announced today at simultaneous press conferences in Newport in the USA and in Aarhus, Denmark, the two Americans Charlie Enright and Mark Towell will lead the campaign. They started their Volvo Ocean Race career with Team Alvimedica in the last edition. Now they have received the trust of the two team partners Vestas and 11th Hour Racing.

Wendy Schmidt, co-founder and president of the Schmidt Family Foundation behind 11th Hour Racing, said: "Mark and Charlie have been ambassadors for 11th Hour Racing for the past two years. In the last race, they experienced first-hand how various environmental pollutants and plastic waste are destroying marine life and threatening us all. Our partnership with Vestas is about inspiring positive change and new ways of thinking about energy and our planet's natural resources."

For the global energy company Vestas, the use of wind and waves makes sense. However, the 2014 team had imagined the realisation of the term "renewable" differently. The fact that they had to "renew" their boat after the reef collision was not the plan. The next race should go better under new managementPhoto: Mark O'Brien/Volvo Ocean Race For the global energy company Vestas, the use of wind and waves makes sense. However, the 2014 team had imagined the realisation of the term "renewable" differently. The fact that they had to "renew" their boat after the reef collision was not the plan. The next race should go better under new management

The next step for the team, whose other members remain unnamed for the time being but who will certainly be joined by Danish reinforcements, will be to collect the yacht that has been refitted in Lisbon and use the time remaining until the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on 22 October for intensive training and several Atlantic crossings in April and May. The yacht will race under the Danish and American flags. After AkzoNobel, Mapfre and Dongfeng, team four has now been announced. Mark Turner and his team have seven months to turn it into a veritable fleet for the course from Alicante via Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Newport, Cardiff and Gothenburg to The Hague.

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Tatjana Pokorny

Tatjana Pokorny

Sports reporter

Tatjana “tati” Pokorny is the author of nine books. As a reporter for Europe's leading sailing magazine YACHT, she also works as a correspondent for the German Press Agency (DPA), the Hamburger Abendblatt and other national and international media. In summer 2024, Tatjana will be reporting from Marseille on her ninth consecutive Olympic Games. Other core topics have been the America's Cup since 1992, the Ocean Race since 1993, the Vendée Globe and other national and international regattas and their protagonists. Favorite discipline: Portraits of and interviews with sailing personalities. When she started out in sports journalism, she was still intensively involved with basketball and other sports, but sailing quickly became her main focus. The reason? The declared optimist says: “There is no other sport like it, no other sport with such interesting and intelligent personalities, no other sport so diverse, no other sport so full of energy, strength and ideas. Sailing is like a constantly refreshing declaration of love for life."

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