Volvo Ocean Race's new rudder - pt 1

Glenn Bourke the Volvo Ocean Race's new CEO talks to James Boyd about his plans for the next race

While most Volvo Ocean Race pundits were expecting another tall blonde Swede with a senior management background to end up in the new CEO’s post, it has come as some surprise that the new man filling Helge Alten’s shoes is a tall dark haired 41 year old Australian.

”I guess a few of us thought that that might be the way they might go,” agrees Glenn Bourke, who last week was appointed the new Volvo Ocean Race CEO. “I gather their rationale is that someone with more knowledge of the sport, might be more beneficial particularly with the decision to change the class.”

The appointment of Glenn Bourke gives some needed confidence in the future of the Volvo Ocean Race, following the departure of Michael Woods, the Director of Race Operations and the recent retirement of Helge Alten, Although Burke nominally assumes his duties now, he doesn’t formally start work at the Volvo Ocean Race offices until mid-November.

Among the sailing fraternity the choice of Bourke has been a popular one. He has a longer sailing CV than many Volvo Ocean Race competitors with three Laser World Championship titles, two Olympic campaigns (1980 and 1992) and two America’s Cup (Kookaburra in 1987 and as tactician on OneAustralia in 1995).

But it was less his racing credentials that won Bourke his new job, than his management skills. During the last Volvo Ocean Race he managed the winning illbruck Challenge team, but he had achieved an even bigger function prior to that, running the sailing side of the Sydney Olympics “which,” he says, “is probably more similar in terms of the scope of the job, to this.”

Bourke also for a time after the Olympics, managed the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organiser of the Sydney-Hobart race. “So the last three appointments that I’ve had have been deeply within the sport and probably gave me the background Volvo were looking for,” he says. “And I imagine my affiliation with some of the key sailors around the place gave me input and exposure to their thinking which might be beneficial in terms of running the race.”

Bourke says that there is more to the job than being the liaison with Volvo and managing the office. “This time it will be significant in that the route will evolve and possibly change a little. The design [of the new Volvo boat] will have to be recreated. The team of people that conducts the race management has been reconstructed to some degree and then interfacing with that you have the corporate responsibility to Volvo. And you also have a duty to assist where possible, in making the event enticing to sponsors of competitors. So it’s pretty broad.”

In this latter role he says that the Volvo Ocean Race management team will include staff who can help potential competitors in making presentations to boardrooms or wealthy individuals who might be potential team sponsors.

“It needs to be commercially viable for the teams,” he says of the commercial package. “They need to have a good case. It is easier for Volvo to help them to present that case, because we have the info to hand, the media statistics, the impressions from Volvo on the hospitality aspects. So we will help. We’ll have staff here and products available for these guys – and girls - to get them going.”

On to the thorny topics of the format for the next Volvo Ocean Race and Bourke admits there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of deciding upon a new route and, significantly, a new boat.

“I think that the fundamental position that we need to get right is to make a boat which is interesting and pleasant to sail, reasonably even across the board in terms of performance, safe, yet fast and where we constrain the costs as much as possible.” He admits that it is this last part of the equation that will be the tough one to pin down.

The concept of what the new boat might be is an exciting one and Bourke says there has been a huge diversity of suggestions.

“What I’m doing at the moment is just culling through the scads and scads of information and recommendations that people have put to us. And the variety there is unbelievable. There are proposals for mega catamarans, for one design 50 footers and everything between.” He says that he will be going through these proposals to work out statistically what the basic components are that people are recommending.

“I’m pretty open minded and there’s a huge variety and it’s a matter of trying to distill them down into one class which suits as many aspects as possible. Now obviously if you try and suit everyone you’ll be designing a camel, and we all know that a camel is great in the desert but it’s very smelly and it spits at its owner. So we’ll try and come up with something practical which embodies the main characteristics which people have thought are beneficial.”

One of the more practical suggestions has been to introduce a one-design ingredient to the boats, be it the hull or possibly even the rig, but this approach has opponents. Mr Volvo Ocean Race himself, Grant Dalton, has said that he feels this does not makes for a ‘campaign’ and although he has not ruled out this possibility, and speaking with the confidence of someone two days into their new job, Bourke tentatively agrees with Dalts’ viewpoint.

Come back to The Daily Sail for part two of this interview on Monday

Other reading matter
See Andy Rice's interview with Glenn Bourke during the Volvo Ocean Race - pt1 and pt2
See our designers survey of what the new boat for the Volvo Ocean Race should be: pt1 , pt2 , pt3