Rio de Janeiro (RJ) – Skipper Torben Grael has already confirmed the crew of the Brasil 1 that will compete in the Cape Town in-port race on December 26th as well as the one that will take part in the second offshore leg of the Volvo Ocean Race -the most traditional round-the-world regatta- that will depart from the South African city on January 2nd headed for Melbourne, Australia.

New onboard are 38-year old Norwegian Knut Frostad and 41-year old Dutch sailor Marcel van Triest. Both are very experienced in competitions such as the Volvo Ocean Race and Torben Grael counts on them in facing the challenges of the Southern Ocean. Helmsman Frostad, who has been a member of the Brasil 1’s technical committee since the start of the project, replaces Horacio Carabelli, the technical coordinator during the boat’s construction. Carabelli ended up joining the onboard crew because of a last minute emergency substitution himself when New Zealander Martin Carter discovered, during some routine pre-competition check-ups, that he had diabetes.

A specialist in sailing the Southern ocean, one of the most inhospitable regions on this planet, Frostad was the skipper of the Inovation Kvaerner in the 1997-1998 Whitbread race. It was on this same boat that Torben Grael gained his experience to compete in a round-the world race.

Marcel van Triest, on the other hand, is taking the place of Australian navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who has now definitely left the team of the first Brazilian boat to compete in this race. Ready for his fifth round-the-world race, the Dutch sailor is the most experienced member of the Brasil 1.

For the in-port race, the crew will count on the additional support of sailor and project director Alan Adler, a member of the crew that finished in second place in Sanxenxo, Spain, on November 5th. World champion in the Starr class and a silver medallist in the J24 class in the Santo Domingo Pan American Games, Alan will the 11th crewmember but will not be onboard during the offshore leg between Cape Town and Melbourne. The other crewmembers are Brazilians André Fonseca, João Signorini, Marcelo Ferreira and Kiko Pellicano, New Zealanders Andy Meiklejohn and Stuart Wilson, and Spaniard Chuny Bermudez.

“We have put together a more experienced and stronger crew to deal with the challenges of the Southern Ocean,” said two-time Olympic champion Torben Grael, who is enjoying his last few days of rest in Brazil before traveling to South Africa. “I am happy and confident. The crew and the boat have a lot of potential to be explored and that’s very good.”

The Brasil 1 shares the second place in the general standing of the competition with the Swedish Ericsson team, both with 10.5 points. The current leader is the Dutch Abn Amro One with 11.5 points.

Overall race results after the first offshore leg:

1.- ABN Amro One, 11.5 points
2.- Brasil 1 and Ericsson, 10.5 points
3.- ABN Amro Two, 9.5 points
4.- Sunergy and Friends, 5.5 points
5.- Piratas do Caribe, 3.5 points (dropped out of the leg)
6.- movistar, 3 points (dropped out of the leg)

The Brasil 1 is sponsored by VIVO, Motorola, QUALCOMM, HSBC, Embraer, ThyssenKrupp, NIVEA Sun, Ágora Senior Corretora de Valores and the Brazilian Government through Apex (Agency for the Promotion of Brazilian Exports), the Ministry of Industry, Development and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Sports, with special support from Varig.