Ross Field on the Volvo

James Boyd spoke to the News Corp head about what should be done for the next Volvo Ocean Race

Kiwi former policeman and rugby player turned ocean racer, Ross Field (above) is a man not afraid to speak his mind. While his compatriots usually stick in the realms of 'Anglo-Saxon' racing such as the Volvo/Whitbread/America's Cup circuits, Field has branched out into new areas. For a while he was a regular skipper on the Maxi One Design circuit. He has taken part and won the Melbourne-Osaka two handed round the world race and was seriously attempting to mount a campaign for the last Vendee Globe Challenge and The Race (admittedly hard to do simultaneously).

But Field is best known for his involvement in the Whitbread Round the World Race and now the Volvo Ocean Race. He went from crewing on NZI Enterprise in 1985/6 to being a watch leader on the all-conquering Steinlager II to being skipper of Yamaha, the Whitbread 60 winner from the 1993/4 race. After an aborted attempt on the 1997/8 Whitbread as skipper of America's Challenge, which made it no further than Cape Town before funds ran dry, he is now back with a vengeance as Campaign Director of Team News Corp, currently patting themselves on the back after a third place into Gothenburg.

With this diverse background madfor sailing went in search of Field's inevitably controversial views on what should happen with the Volvo Ocean Race if it is to be held again in 2005/6.

"I have put my recommendation to Volvo," says Field. "The chances of them going for multihulls is slim. They perceive them as being too risky and too dangerous. So I've recommended Open 60 monohulls, with the understanding that multihulls are my preference".

Field is a big fan of the new generation of what Bruno Peyron has dubbed 'G-class' multihulls, ie the modern generation of maxi-cats and tris. For the first running of The Race in 2001 Field was touting to sponsors an ambitious 150ft long Nigel Irens-designed trimaran, the model of which is still kicking around his home. "Multihull sailing is going to become where it's at. These days you get trimarans taking part in the Fastnet - 10 years ago would that have been allowed?"

Importantly he believes that the existence of the big multihulls could easily damage the Volvo Ocean Race, particularly as it is rumoured that skipper-turned race organiser-turned skipper again, Bruno Peyron has a sponsor waiting in the wings to run a version of The Race - with stops. The plan would be to run The Race every four years with the new round the world event with stopovers taking place in between. Peyron has set the start date of the next running of The Race in 2004 and so this new race would presumably be first held in 2006.

"I'm afraid to say if Bruno does a stopover race it will badly affect the Volvo - and he says he's got a sponsor to do one," says Field, adding that one of the advantages of the big cats and tris is that they are not a one race only sailboat as the present VO60s have proven to be. "They are expensive to build, but they are impressive and you can use them afterwards: There's The Race, the Jules Verne, the stopover race, record runs..."

Field also thinks that a G-class multihull programme gives better value to sponsors. "I think in relative terms it would be easier to sell a multihull programme as it would be cheaper than what we have at the moment. They are also short sharp events so the public retains interested in it. I think the Volvo Ocean Race is too long and Volvo have recognised that."

So how on earth could this be cheaper? "We'd make the crew sleep on board of course! It would definitely be cheaper than this, because we'd need to get in there and make sure it is cheaper, by for example limiting the crew to 10 people - they could sail Club Med with 10 crew - limit sails and shore crew, prevent two boat testing". The event would also be a lot shorter. "You could go round the world in a time 14 days longer than the first leg of the Volvo race".

Field says that he would like campaign budgets to be of the order of $10 million in order to give sponsors a healthy return on their investment. He feels that at present Volvo Ocean Race campaign budgets are heading towards $20 million and logically if the Volvo Ocean Race is repeated in its current format, this figure will unquestionably get bigger and as a result less valuable to a sponsor. "I would not even attempt to go and sell a $20 million Volvo 60 budget".

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Most skippers in the Volvo Ocean Race would like to be racing maxi-multihulls, but feel that Volvo won't take this option for the next race .