Image: Stefan Coppers/Team Brunel/Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race ‘obsessive’ Bouwe Bekking with Team Brunel is back for an eighth shot at glory.

No one has sailed more miles in the Volvo Ocean Race than Bekking, who made his first appearance as a crewmember on Philips Innovator back in 1985-86.

Bekking has been a runner-up in two previous editions but victory has always been just beyond his grasp.

His first experience of ‘so near but yet so far’ came on debut in 1985-86, when he finished second on board Philips Innovator, skippered by fellow Dutchman Dirk Nauta. He skippered second-placed Brunel in the most recent edition in 2014-15.

More than 30 years on, and now aged 54, Bekking’s Volvo Ocean Race obsession has only intensified. Brunel are Volvo Ocean Race veterans themselves, having had their first involvement in 1997-98.

The theme of the 2017-18 campaign is ‘Engineering the Future.’ – an initiative of a consortium of Dutch companies, including Brunel, Abel, Royal Huisman and EY.

With four months to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the starting grid is almost full. The other confirmed entries are team AkzoNobel (skippered by Simeon Tienpont), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier), MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández), Vestas11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright), Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (David Witt) and Turn The Tide On Plastic (Dee Caffari).

The return of Brunel means that for the first time in the race’s history, four major team sponsors are back for a second successive edition. As well as Brunel, Vestas, Dongfeng and MAPFRE are all back after competing in the most recent edition in 2014-15.

The race will start from Alicante on 22 October, with a maximum of eight One Design Volvo Ocean 65 racing yachts in the fleet. Seven of the boats have undergone an extensive refit process after being raced in 2014-15. The eighth is a brand new yacht, built for team AkzoNobel.

The 2017-18 edition will see the teams cover 45,000 nautical miles in a race that features a total of 12 Host Cities and will finish in The Hague, Netherlands at the end of June.

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