A Perfect Ending

The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race Was Decided Just Seven Miles From the Finish. Helen Fretter Finds Out How Dongfeng Took a Cliffhanger Victory

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As one, they roared. And then, amid the chaos of the finish line, there was a moment of pause. Skipper Charles Caudrelier briefly let go of the wheel and threw his hands to his head incredulously. All around him the Dongfeng crew were hugging, wordless in disbelief. Dongfeng Race

Team had won the Volvo Ocean Race. Tears flowed freely. Caudrelier said afterwards that it was the first time he had ever cried over a race. Navigator Pascal Bidégorry’s eyes were red raw with emotion and exhaustion. Because this was no straightforward round the world race win. In an unprecedented scenario, the overall victory of the Volvo Ocean Race, a 10-month 45,000-mile epic, was not conclusively decided until the final cross just seven miles from the finish. It was the closest race the event has ever seen and in the end it largely came down to a single, smart, but audacious navigation call.

For Dongfeng Race Team, victory on 24 June 2018 was the culmination of a five-year, two-race campaign. The Chinese-French team was brought together ahead of the last edition (largely by former VOR and Offshore Challenges boss Mark Turner) with a complex set of aims – to race with Chinese sailors, to create national heroes in a nation with no tradition of offshore sailing, and of course, to be competitive.

It was successful on many fronts and was 3rd overall. But to create true national heroes you need to win something. Britons may love an underdog. The French may love the romance of navigateurs sailing off in search of a dream. But China loves a winner. To turn the Dongfeng sailors into stars, they needed to win the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race.

Team boss Bruno Dubois went back to the motoring company and presented Dongfeng with various options for the 2017-18 race. They opted for the set-up that would give the best chance of coming first: a single international team, with the cream of the Chinese crew aboard.