Volvo Ocean Race's new rudder - pt 2

In the second part of our interview with him the Volvo Ocean Race's new CEO Glenn Bourke talks budgets routes and timings.

We put it to Bourke that at the end of the Volvo Ocean Race, there seemed to be a consensus towards a bigger, cheaper boat with less sailors and less stops.

“I would definitely say that they are the four key elements,” he agrees. “And I think we should be able to accommodate all of those, although obviously the tricky one is that as they get bigger, they don’t get cheaper. So it is a matter of finding out how we put together the package of the design of the boat to try and contain those costs. But I think all of those are a pretty common thread among about 90% of the respondents that we have.”

His predecessor Helge Alten held the opinion that team budgets should be limited to $10 million, instead of the $15-20+ million of a majority of the more well-heeled campaigns. Bourke agrees with this, but again stresses the problem is how to limit this budget.

“Possibly one boat,” he suggests. “Possibly limited not to be built before a certain time. But you can’t stop them. They could go and buy or use like-boats, which were similar to the rule and you really couldn’t stop that. But in terms of the construction of the race boat, the periodicity, the number of crew, the number of sails and cost of construction. There are certain things within our control that have a bearing on all of those things.”

What seems almost certain is that there will be between 5-7 stops next time instead of the ball-breaking (and costly) nine of the recent race.

“At the moment we have about two conceptual courses, both utilising the systems and trade winds around the globe for primarily downwind performance,” continues Bourke. “Basically what we’ll do is outline routes and then we need to go and speak to potential port authorities, to find out a) if they’re interested and b) if they have the infrastructure to provide us with great stopovers. And once we have selected a number of ports in certain areas around the globe, then we can further fine tune the route.”

After the success of the Gothenberg and Kiel stopovers, it seems certain that the race will finish again in the Baltic. In terms of a start point Bourke has not ruled out moving the race away from the UK. “Possibly the UK or the Mediterranean or Europe, but that’s undetermined at this stage. We’d like to keep a component of the history of the race as well as modernizing it.”

Interestingly the probability of reducing the number of crew on board also seems to be on Bourke’s list of changes. “Part of the tradition is the battle of man against the sea. We want to make sure it continues to be an epic struggle. Now what I mean by that is perhaps a reduction of the crew means that each crewman needs to be a little more diverse in their skills and perhaps that will make the race a little more open. Certainly [reducing] competitor numbers will make it more open and more interesting.”

Also under review is the points scoring system. For the last race this changed from being weighted towards the offshore legs to being equal regardless of the length or arduous nature of a leg. This time round the race may well also have more pitstops – as was tried in Hobart in the middle of leg three.

So how to make all these decisions – and make them quickly? “Basically we’ll set up a group of people with experience who will set the parameters for us,” Bourke explains. “From there we will decide whether it is one design, partially one design or more open. We’ll decide what style of boat it is, the general length, what the parameters of the boat are that we believe are important.”

Bourke says this committee will include people with past experience from the race, plus some fresh faces, some representatives of the sailmaking and mastmaking community, a couple of designers, a couple of administrators (including him) and some measurers. “We’ll try over a short period of time, to catalyse the ideas of all those people together in the creation of the conceptual new rule. From that concept rule we’ll flesh out the actual rule, and that will obviously take quite a bit more time as we have to shut down loopholes, so that we end up with a product that suits all the parameters we have defined.”

He expects the concept rule to be ready within three months (a London Boat Show announcement seems likely). “We need to release the concept so that people can go out into the marketplace and say that ‘this is what Volvo envisage in terms of the course, the points scoring system, the class of boat.’ So they have something to take to sponsors.”

Between now and 20 November when he returns to the UK Bourke will be back in New Zealand, where since the end of the Volvo Ocean Race he has been working as a coach for Team Dennis Conner.

“I’ve been enjoying a brief sojourne back in the throws of competitive yacht racing. It’s been great, fantastic, a wonderful experience to go back sailing at that level again,” reassuring words for someone who is about to reshape another of the world’s classic yacht events.

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