Grant Dalton is banking on CAMPER's renowned strength as a unit to see them through but right now the outspoken New Zealander has a blunt message for his team: “I’m not impressed.”
Dalton’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand team are in a strong second place overall and have been on the podium regularly but the team regarded by many as pre-race favourites have yet to win an in-port or offshore leg after six opportunities.
Now 15 points behind Team Telefónica on the leaderboard, they cannot afford to keep losing ground and Dalton, a six-time Volvo competitor and twice champion, has brought reinforcements to China in the form of America’s Cup coaches Rod Davis and Joey Allen.
“First of all, we have to stop bleeding points inshore,” Dalton said. “We’ve bled enough offshore, we have to stop bleeding them inshore.
“If Telefónica keep on going the way they are, we’re not going to beat them, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work that out.”
Just hours after Dalton, a race winner in 1981-82 and in 1993-94, arrived in Sanya, he was on the water in a coach boat watching his team’s training session.
He is staunch in his backing of skipper Chris Nicholson and reckons the team’s unity will make the difference, though it is clear he wants to see rapid improvements.
“I’m not impressed,” he said. It’s pretty simple, but they’re really, really trying to sort it out.
“Their strength is the unit, and that’s very obvious very quickly when you come back, and they’re well led by Nico, he’s done a very nice job.
“That’s a trait of our teams over the years -- they tend to be very strong and that often is just the difference between winning and losing: it just drags them through when times are tough.”
Dalton said his team would respond well to criticism.
“One of the things is that we’re kind of realistic,” he said. “We get it -- nobody’s precious. If you’re screwing it up we’ve got to deal with it, honestly. It’s not that hard -- if you’re screwing up you’re screwing up.”
The Leg 4 race to Auckland, which the Spanish-sponsored team counts as one of two bases, is also providing motivation.
“Auckland is important for two reasons,” he said. "It’s important because there’s so much history of titanic struggles into Auckland -- the last three races I did we were never more than a couple of minutes apart the whole way – and it’s important for some of the guys because they’re coming home.
“It’s both pressure and motivation. You’re motivated to sit on the rail for the last two and a half days if you have to.”
The 5,220 nautical mile Leg 4 race to New Zealand is due to start on Sunday, February 19.
From : Volvo Ocean Race
Credit : I. Roman/VOR
Dalton’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand team are in a strong second place overall and have been on the podium regularly but the team regarded by many as pre-race favourites have yet to win an in-port or offshore leg after six opportunities.
Now 15 points behind Team Telefónica on the leaderboard, they cannot afford to keep losing ground and Dalton, a six-time Volvo competitor and twice champion, has brought reinforcements to China in the form of America’s Cup coaches Rod Davis and Joey Allen.
“First of all, we have to stop bleeding points inshore,” Dalton said. “We’ve bled enough offshore, we have to stop bleeding them inshore.
“If Telefónica keep on going the way they are, we’re not going to beat them, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work that out.”
Just hours after Dalton, a race winner in 1981-82 and in 1993-94, arrived in Sanya, he was on the water in a coach boat watching his team’s training session.
He is staunch in his backing of skipper Chris Nicholson and reckons the team’s unity will make the difference, though it is clear he wants to see rapid improvements.
“I’m not impressed,” he said. It’s pretty simple, but they’re really, really trying to sort it out.
“Their strength is the unit, and that’s very obvious very quickly when you come back, and they’re well led by Nico, he’s done a very nice job.
“That’s a trait of our teams over the years -- they tend to be very strong and that often is just the difference between winning and losing: it just drags them through when times are tough.”
Dalton said his team would respond well to criticism.
“One of the things is that we’re kind of realistic,” he said. “We get it -- nobody’s precious. If you’re screwing it up we’ve got to deal with it, honestly. It’s not that hard -- if you’re screwing up you’re screwing up.”
The Leg 4 race to Auckland, which the Spanish-sponsored team counts as one of two bases, is also providing motivation.
“Auckland is important for two reasons,” he said. "It’s important because there’s so much history of titanic struggles into Auckland -- the last three races I did we were never more than a couple of minutes apart the whole way – and it’s important for some of the guys because they’re coming home.
“It’s both pressure and motivation. You’re motivated to sit on the rail for the last two and a half days if you have to.”
The 5,220 nautical mile Leg 4 race to New Zealand is due to start on Sunday, February 19.
From : Volvo Ocean Race
