Sydney Gavignet has just beaten the record of the Tour of Ireland, in 40 hours, 51 minutes and 57 seconds âeuros, thus defeating the American Steve Fosset, who had established the last record in 1933. He was aboard the MOD 70 Musandam âeuros Oman Sail . And it is him that Dongfeng has chosen for this transatlantic race between Newport and Lisbon. He will replace Eric Peron on board the Volvo Ocean 65, who will take the opportunity to rest a little before the last two European legs.
"Sidney is a great helmsman. He's a Volvo Ocean Race expert and I've wanted to sail with him for a long time. We sailed together 12 years ago and it went very well so I can only hope that this leg goes well!" explained Charles Caudrelier, the skipper of Dongfeng Race Team.
This new French sailor is a fine connoisseur of the crewed round the world race since he has participated four times. He participated for the first time in 1993 âeuros 1994, alongside Eric Tabarly (La Poste) and continued with Assad Abloy (2001 âeuros 2002) before winning the 2005 âeuros 2006 edition on ABN Amro One. He then finished second in 2008 âeuros 2009 aboard Puma Ocean Racing.
Allow team members to rest
Dongfeng's technical director Bruno Dubois was keen to explain why Loic Peron would not be on board for Leg 7, despite the crew's victory in Newport. " To be completely transparent, we can say that even if the Chinese sailors are beyond our expectations, they still have a long way to go, dubois explained. " That means non-Chinese sailors have to make up for that lack of experience, spend more time on deck, explain things more, teach and, above all, supervise what they do."
"Some are tired and the rotations allow us to keep everyone at their best. Only Charles (Caudrelier) and Kevin (Escoffier) haven't gotten off the boat since Alicante and that shouldn't change."
Charles Caudrelier added about Sidney Gavignet " Sidney is the most Anglo-Saxon French sailor. Sidney is the Frenchman who has done the most Volvos, I think. He is trained, he knows this activity well. I knew him on the Figaro circuit. I raced against him, I raced with him. I like him a lot, I have a lot of respect for him. He is an excellent sailor. It is part of our strategy to replace people regularly. We have to do it for our Chinese sailors, but it is also important for the others. Every time we have changed, it has been good for the sailor who stayed ashore. It helps to stay fresh. The race is long. And then to have someone new who brings his skills, it has brought a lot to the team.â Sidney is coming on strong. And then I find it nice to sail with different people. Sidney is someone we all like so we are happy to have him on board
After the Lisbon stage, the race will move on to Lorient in June and then finish on June 27 with the Gothenburg In-Port in Sweden.
