The reluctant hero

madforsailing talks to Neal McDonald about the Volvo and his plans thereafter

Like Grant Dalton he says that at this point in this nine month long race it is essential that the team keep progressing. "It is very easy in a campaign - I've seen it happen in two or three races - you get to half way through and there is a sort of drudgery involved and you get to a stale situation where you aren't learning anymore. My feeling is there are no half measures - you don't stay as you are - you either improve or you get worse. Our goal is to keep improving. I think it needs a certain amount of energy, a certain amount of planning. We've got a very good sail design team, some smart guys on the boat and we'll just keep trying to push".

The crew changes which have been made on board - although more than he would have liked - have in some ways helped. "We have had more crew changes than would have been planned. Some of them have been unfortunate such as the health problems with Guillermo's [Altadill] father. With all those crew changes we've taken a little step up - all those people have given us new ideas and thoughts".

Continued on page 3...

Neal and Mark Rudiger check out the competition