For hard core, competitive sailors, the Volvo Ocean Race provides an extraordinary opportunity to race against the very best ocean racers in the world. For the recent winner of the America’s Cup, it is a challenge too tempting to miss.
He’s just been named World Sailor of the Year for the second time in three years, but Peter Burling was nowhere to be seen at this week’s glitzy Mexican award ceremony. Instead the Kiwi helmsman is some 10,000 km away, guiding Team Brunel through tough seas from Lisbon to Cape Town on the second leg of the ongoing Volvo Ocean Race (VOR).
He isn’t a man to hang about. At the age of just 26, Burling has already proven his credentials in both fleet racing and match racing — winning Olympic gold in the 49er class, and the 35th Americas Cup with Emirates Team New Zealand.
Now he’s stepped right out of his comfort zone, battling day and night in a bid to conquer an event so tough it’s known as the “Everest of the Seas”.
Burling and his crew will visit 12 host cities on six continents over the coming months, covering more than 46,000 nautical miles (85,000km). Read more.
