China's offshore sailing team makes history and then some

Tuesday morning — June 16 — began with the usual chaos around the Dongfeng team base in Lorient, France, as the battered, exhausted but still "completely psyched" crew got on board and set off on the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15.

The finish line is in Gothenburg, Sweden, about 960 nautical miles to go, with a brief pit stop in The Hague, and although the chance of finishing in first place has all but sunk, the mood of the crew — six Frenchmen, one Swede and two Chinese — has noticeably picked up, according to the website of the team sponsored by Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Company.

Who wouldn't feel psyched after racing a cramped stripped-down yacht around the world and having the end in sight? But maybe their good spirits are about something else that goes beyond winning or losing. Maybe a sense of mission accomplished trumps that.

"A tennis match is over in a few hours," the crew's online log read on the final day of the previous leg that left Lisbon, Portugal, on June 7 and ended in France last week. "The Volvo Ocean Race is over in nine months and you'd have thought as we approach the ninth month things would be coming to a close, right? Unfortunately, wrong."

The situation was not looking good. Up until then the Dongfeng Race Team had been running for first and second place and had now slipped to seventh. With team Abu Dhabi unassailably in first place, Dongfeng was now in an intense battle between four boats for the two remaining podium positions.

"Being in the running for first place for more than 30,000 miles of this race, all of a sudden makes 4th place look a little disappointing. But that's the nature of the game," the log read.

The team captain waxed philosophical on his personal blog. "Is it better to have almost won and lost it or is it better to have never come within reach so when the disappointment comes, it doesn't hit you so hard? It's a tough one. I don't know," wrote skipper Charles Caudrelier.

One of France's best offshore sailors and a merchant navy officer by trade, Caudrelier has been more than willing to share his skills with the Chinese sailors aboard to help the progress toward a fully Chinese crew in future races.

To most athletes, every race is about winning or losing. From the beginning of the Dongfeng campaign, an effort was made to assemble sailors and a skipper who could put that impulse aside and get on board with what was the real objective of the campaign — not to win, or even place overall, but to train Chinese sailors and take a major first step in the direction of bringing offshore sailing to China.

Proving that they could contend with the best — and give the Chinese rookies aboard invaluable experience — was all that mattered. Then things changed. The team started to taste winning and liked it. First place was within reach.

"It would be unfair to say that the long-term mission of the team was forgotten," the log read. "But it was certainly overrun by the idea that we could (and potentially would) win."

It came on January 26 as the boat gently crossed the finish line off Sanya, Hainan Island, China, where hundreds of Chinese fans had been waiting for hours to cheer them on — completing the third of nine legs and the most stressful Caudrelier had ever completed in his life, he said. The leg started 4,642 nautical miles away in Abu Dhabi.

Team Dongfeng became the first Chinese team to win a leg in the 41-year history of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The two previous Chinese teams — Green Dragon in the 2008-2009 edition of the race and Team Sanya in 2011-2012 — put in hard-fought never-say-die performances but because of under-performing boats, never challenged the leaders.

One of the Chinese crewmen on the final leg — underway at the time of this writing and trackable in real time on the race's website — is Yang "Wolf" Jiru, who was born in Anshan, Liaoning province. A relative newcomer to sailing (he's 25 and didn't even try it until he was 20), Yang said: "This is the biggest thing that has happened in my life so far."

The other Chinese crewman on the final leg is Shenzen-born Chen Jin "Horace" Hao, a bowman. At age 22, he is one of the youngest sailors in the race but has also shown born leadership skills and a sharp competitive edge, according to Caudrelier, who said he has "heaps of potential".

"I love sailing from the bottom of my heart," said Chen, who is also an avid singer. "I think that's why I never gave up on it, not even once."

Stay tuned. It looks like China's place in offshore ocean racing is just getting underway.

Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com