The Training Once Charles Caudrelier was announced as Skipper at the Official Boat Launch he took the lead in training the successful candidates onboard the Volvo Ocean 65. This is a photograph of Jin Hao Chen during a training session just off the coast of Sanya.
Behind our team lies a long-term sporting mission. A mission to bring professional competitive offshore sailing to China and leave a legacy from, and for, the Volvo Ocean Race. Parallel to this is the aim of demonstrating the value of international sailing sponsorship platforms for Chinese companies as a way to help them go global, as well as western companies already more used to sports sponsorship, who have objectives in the Chinese market.
After launching a major recruitment campaign in November 2013 and holding two intense, non-stop selection trials at Serenity Marina, Sanya, the team’s official training base, Dongfeng Race Team chose 12 Chinese athletes to join the Academy Squad. Over the last few months these sailors have put their hearts and souls into the programme – six of them have now been chosen to embark on the training leg from Sanya, China to Auckland, New Zealand on board the Volvo Ocean 65 Dongfeng (a re-enactment of Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race) under the guidance of French skipper Charles Caudrelier. Caudrelier then faces the difficult decision of choosing which of these Chinese sailors will join the Western professional sailors in the final race crew line-up, to be announced in June when Dongfeng returns to European waters.
Such a bold ambition doesn’t come without challenges for everyone involved. These photographs are a true representation of the team’s journey so far…
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