Team Delta Lloyd CEO is confident that the former Volvo Ocean Race winning boat can feature in a podium finish despite the setback of structural damage during leg four
“THERE is still a podium finish in her.” The confident words of Team Delta Lloyd / Chieftain CEO Ger O’Rourke, following the decision of the team to retire from leg four in the Volvo Ocean Race after the 70ft yacht suffered structural damage during the horrendously hellish conditions all the yachts endured on the race to Qingdao in China.
Delta Lloyd were joined by two other yachts that befell similar fate with major damage and the race is on now for all crews to ready themselves to continue epic round the world sailing marathon.However, plan B had to kick into place as the original idea to ship the yacht on a container vessel over the weekend was scuppered due to a European time scheduling difference.
“It’s been quite frustrating, I can see the ship and I can see it has space on it, and everything is ready on our side, but they won’t delay the ship and can’t get approval to change the loading plan due to the time difference in Europe.”
The entire band of racing professionals associated with Team Delta Lloyd were notably disappointed when the fate of their high performance yacht was known so it has been a difficult few days for all concerned.
“It’s a bit of a setback for us, but we can put plan B into action now and confirm a spot later this week.
“The Volvo Ocean Races are always the same – you can never predict what’s going on, so it’s always a logistical challenge to get the teams back in the race as quickly as possible.”
The delay will add an additional few days to the team’s schedule but the boat will still be shipped to Rio ahead of the rest of the fleet who will be contesting leg five. Once there, the challenge of repairing the damage sustained during the upwind battle of leg four will begin in earnest.
“Right now we think it is a two and a half week repair job and so it is feasible to do it before the in port race in Rio”.
