An Olympian sailor who spent his early years learning his skills in Warsash has been invited to join Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Performance Director in the team’s second bid for Volvo Ocean Race glory next year.
Ian Walker and Neal McDonald
Six-time Volvo Ocean Race legend Neal McDonald, alongside skipper Ian Walker, from Warsash, will lead Abu Dhabi’s technical programmes, training camps and crew development to streamline the team’s victory pursuit in the 2014-15 race, starting next October in Alicante, Spain.
“I am lucky enough to have raced around the world six times and I hope to use my experience to ensure Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing wins this next race,” said the 50-year-old, father-of-two.
A qualified naval architect, McDonald, who spent his early days sailing on the River Hamble from Warsash Sailing Club, started ocean racing with Lawrie Smith, who was a team-mate at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when McDonald was campaigning Flying Dutchman’s (6th) class and Smith a Soling (4th).
In preparation for next year’s event, the Brighton-sailor took part in this Cowes Week’s Big Boat Races from August 6 to 8 and will be defending their title in the Rolex Fastnet Race record next week from August 11 to 13 off the South Coast.
McDonald said: “With any offshore race, the next one is full of many varied challenges, some of which will not even be obvious at the start of the campaign. The solutions to each will inevitably involve a series of complex compromises.
“Getting the right balance in each of these compromises will be a huge part of winning this next race. Particularly with a one design boat playing centre stage in the 2014-15 race, the biggest challenge will be to get the best out of the entire team at all the critical stages of the campaign. Getting the right personnel and planning the campaign properly from the start appear to be the most important parts to getting it right.
“After the last race it was clear to me that, at my stage in life, I was not going to do another Volvo campaign that involved me as a sailor in a manner that I had before.
“I had never given up on the possibility of getting involved in a more behind-the-scenes role. When Ian Walker started talking to me I was excited to hear more, as I see Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing having a real chance of winning this race.”