It is an unusual constellation. First there is the sponsor, the Swedish company SCA, a manufacturer of care products and paper. There is also a manager, but no crew yet. This will first be selected in a screening process.
Race organiser Knut Frostad couldn't care less, the main thing is that the team is at the start. After all, it has long been his wish to have at least one, if not two, women's teams in the race. "The fact that we didn't have a women's team in the last few editions meant that the race only represented 50 per cent of humanity."
He also paved the way with the Introduction of the new 65-foot uniform class. It should be physically much easier to sail than the previous Volvo 70, and a women-only team can take two additional crew members with them.
"The switch to the 65-footer was one of the key decisions that made a women's crew possible," says Richard Brisius, the team's manager. "We wouldn't have thought of this with the previous 70-footers." The Swede has taken part in the race twice himself and manages the team for the Atlant Ocean Racing team, which has already been behind the winning EF Language (1998) and Ericsson Racing (2009) campaigns as well as supporting others.
The type of screening process will be announced in the coming weeks. According to Brisius, an international crew is being sought.
Is there a chance of German participation? The only candidate at the moment would be the Hamburg woman Anna-Maria Renken who has just completed the Quebec-St. Malo transatlantic regatta and whose long-term goal is actually to take part in the Route du Rhum 2014 in the Class 40. She could imagine taking part, she told YACHT online. "The team would have to fit, of course, and all the criteria would have to be right," says Renken. And she believes that a women's team can also be victorious. "I find the new boats exciting and believe that it is possible to sail at the front with them. That wouldn't have been possible with a Volvo 70."
The last all-female crew was led by Lisa Charles (now McDonald) with Amer Sports Too in 2001, the first in 1989 by Racy Edwards with Maiden. In between there were the two campaigns Heineken with Dawn Riley (1993) and EF Education with Christine Guilou (1997). Without exception, none of them stood a chance.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
