Candidates take part in a physical warm-up outside Serenity Marina in Sanya.
 
The first phase of the recruitment process for Team Dongfeng has finished successfully at the Sanya Serenity Marina.

The selection trials started at 8:00 am on December 16th at the team’s official training base at Sanya Serenity Marina.

Following a brief introduction from Bruno Dubois, the Team Dongfeng Director, 20 potential sailing candidates and 2 media crew members were separated into four groups and a selection team began to manage the selection trials process.

“The purpose of the selection trials is to identify the athletes who have the most potential to be offshore racers and who show the ability to work effectively as a team in any task and to learn the skills needed over the coming months to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race next October,” said Guo Chuan, a Chinese sailor who is on the selection team.

 
 
Candidates take part in various mental and physical activities hoping to pass the selection trials and become part of Dongfeng Race Team.
 
These tests started with a physical warm-up – consisting of an 800-meter run and a 2.2 km race, followed by a sailing skills demonstration and a Water Confidence Test and ended with a team-building task.

“These testing programs may sound strange, but each is specially designed for a purpose and to complete them not only require plenty of coordination and cooperation work as a team but also a huge amount of patience. Strong determination and strict discipline are the keys to victory in the Volvo Ocean Race”, said Bruno Dubois

“We have seen some good performances during the selection trials,” said Guo Chuan. “Some of them demonstrated a very logical approach to problem solving and the right attitude to contribute towards team performance. Many of them impressed us with their high-ability sailing skills.” 

   
 
 Candidates catch up on sleep during the selection trials at Sanya Serenity Marina.
 
“Now our challenge is to make sure that from now to the start of the race they will become really strong and grow into as good Volvo Ocean Race sailors as possible in the limited time we have,” concluded Guo Chuan.

The judging panel now has to make a decision on which candidates will be chosen to participate in the following training program activities starting in January 2014. Team Dongfeng is looking for some of best Chinese sailing athletes before a Chinese training Elite Squad is to be announced in March.

Further selection trials will be held in January as the search for Team Dongfeng’s Chinese crew continues.

 
SOURCE: WOS Team