Can Jez do it again?

madforsailing speaks to News Corps skipper Jez Fanstone, about life in the fast lane of the Volvo Ocean Race

While in previous interviews Grant Dalton and Neal McDonald have both indicated that from a management point of view they have had to work hard to keep the motivation level up with their crew in such a long race, Fanstone does not see this as a problem. No doubt a leg win is just the incentive they need. "It's been three years I've been doing this. The motivation is to go all the way through to the end. I knew the end was in June in Kiel and not in Miami. All the guys who we took on board have the same motivation - they're professionals and it's their job".

He adds that bringing in a couple of new guys for each leg helps to keep it fresh. They have for example brought in a new boat builder to help on the shore team because the stopovers are getting shorter and there is no less maintenance to be done.

For the next leg across the North Atlantic to La Rochelle Nick White has again been relegated to the shore crew and instead Ross Field's son Campbell is on board as navigator. Otherwise the crew remains the same.

On a personal note Jez will not say what his plans are for after the race. If his association with Ross Field continues then he may find aboard in a big multihull for The Race, but he is not convinced that such a change of boat is what the Volvo Ocean Race requires.

"I think I'm sort of 50/50," he says. "It is a great race and these are great boats, but there are other good boats out there. But there's no reason why a better boat could not be dreamed up. These are third generation boats now, so it might be fun to play with something new".

Clearly Jez enjoys the team aspect of the Volvo Ocean Race and do not seem too enthused when I conjure up the prospect of him doing a Vendee Globe. He says he'd like to do more skippering for sure. "I made the decision to do this and I enjoy it. It is a team thing. It is not the ultimate team sport, but the 12 people do need to work together and the balance does need to be right. All 12 people need to be thinking where they are. When it's as black as the inside of a cow the bowman can’t afford to turn around. He needs to know there are five other guys there behind him who are there and they’re going to do the job together so they can come back in one piece".

With Jez and Neal McDonald both proving their worth in the skipper's slot in a major event such as this the prospects for fully crewed British ocean racing look set to have a rosy future.

In stopovers Jez has been a hit fronting the Volvo Ocean Race band