China's round-the-world offshore team readies for Round 2

The Wolf is back. Black and Horace are too. And they're now known as The Chinese Trio of the Dongfeng Race team.

The race being the Volvo Ocean Race - once around the globe by sea in a 65-foot racing yacht, 11 legs totaling 45,000 nautical miles, starting in Spain in October and ending in Holland in June of next year.

For a race like that, it's never too soon to start getting ready. And the Dongfeng team - the only Chinese-sponsored entry in what's arguably the world's pinnacle event in fully crewed ocean racing - is the first to take delivery of its spruced up yacht, and training is underway.

Last time around, in the 2014-15 race, the team surprised the sailing world by finishing third. This time they're shooting higher.

And the Chinese trio is reunited. Jiru "Wolf" Yang, 26, Liu "Black" Xue, 24 and Chen "Horace" Jinhao, 25, help the 12-person crew with one rule in particular - on any given leg, the seven-of-12 crewmen onboard must include at least two people under 30.

"This is going to be my second Volvo Ocean Race and I am glad to be here," said Wolf, taking a break from the team's rigorous training schedule at its headquarters at Lorient in France.

"It is such an honor to sail with this team again. We want to try to get a better result - maybe even push to win - but we are not taking anything for granted," he added.

Just four years ago, Wolf had barely been to sea, let alone raced in a high performance sailing yacht in some of the most inhospitable waters on the planet.

"It was a really hard race and in some ways my dream became my nightmare," he said in his newly acquired, brushed-up fluent English. "When it was over, I was asked whether I would do it again and I said 'maybe' because there were tough times on the boat when I told myself, 'No, no, Wolf, do not do this again.'

"But then you also have good memories and you remember the great team spirit and because you go through testing moments, you experience feelings of achievement and elation that most people will never experience," he added.

Since all of the boats in the race - there are expected to be eight crossing the start line in October - are identical down to the dimensions and numbers of sails, rudders, rigging and weight, the race really is all about teamwork.

Horace seems to get it. "This time I will be more focused on what I can do on the boat and, having done the last Volvo, I know what I can do," he said.

Black, who recently sailed in the Sinan Cup Regatta in China, said, "Last time I knew nothing. I did not speak English. I did not know what it was like offshore and I did not know the Volvo Ocean Race. Now I have a better mental approach because Charles asked me to come back and I don't want to let him down."

Team skipper Charles Caudrelier, 43, recognized as one of France's top offshore sailors, said he is happy to share his skills with Chinese sailors to help progress toward a full Chinese crew in future races.

"Wolf, Black and Horace have one Volvo Ocean Race behind them and all of them sailed on at least two or three legs of the last race, so we are in quite a different position," Caudrelier said. "Last time we were selecting them in China and teaching them how to use a winch, this time we are only speaking about performance."

Their campaign is sponsored by the Wuhan-based Dongfeng Motor Corporation; the team said it is committed to developing the sport of offshore racing in China.

At present, Wolf, Black and Horace have no idea which of the 11 legs they will sail on - it could be Lisbon to Cape Town or Hong Kong to Auckland. But for Wolf, winning or losing is only part of the mission.

"Our goal is to encourage more Chinese people to get involved in sailing," he said. "The sport is still not very popular - even after our good result in our first Volvo Ocean Race - so we want a better result and we want to get more young Chinese sailors involved with us and attract more attention to what we are doing in China."

Contact the writer at chrisdavis@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 05/03/2017 page2)