No Blue Blazer

In late November Glenn Bourke took his place as new chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race. He is the first to admit that there is plenty to be done ­ and with the offshore sailing world holding its collective breath there is a bit of a hurry onŠ

A world-class sailor (three Laser world titles), a world-class organiser (he masterminded Sydney's outstanding Olympic Regatta), and one hell of a manager (CEO of illbruck's Volvo Race challenge), Glenn Bourke had to hit the ground at speed when he arrived in the UK after a month in Auckland with Stars & Stripes. The Volvo Ocean Race organisation had recently issued their 2005 Śrace philosophy' document, which narrowed the plan, but a huge amount of detail work, particularly in boat selection, still remains to be done before the race format can be confirmed.

SH: Did your consultant's report on the last event throw up any surprises?

GB: Not to me, it was essentially a distillation of the stakeholders' ideas, primarily the teams. The hardest thing was to extract any real consensus, as so many people had so many opinions. But it offered some common thoughts, one of which was to reduce costs for the syndicates. Similarly to reduce the number of ports ­ which is a lifestyle issue as well as one of costs. It's hard to keep uprooting people, especially those with families. The third consensus was that the boat needed to be updated to come more into line with modern design.

SH: Volvo's race philosophy document makes clear a desire to return to (much) longer legs. Is this based on cost or upon returning the event to ocean racing.

GB: Both. But where there are two logical arguments in favour of a theory, it seems natural to go that way.

To read the remainder of this article please go to the December 2002 edition of Seahorse, available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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