Telefonica team members for the Volvo Ocean Race
by Volvo Ocean Race media 2 Jul 2008 14:56 BST
2 July 2008
Javier de la Plaza (L) and Jonathan Swain (R) join the Telefonica team © Maria Muina / Equipo Telefonica
Taking on a 37,025-mile round the world ocean race
that throws up the toughest of conditions is no easy task. Good crew members
are not enough; you need sailors who show their talent, enthusiasm and
versatility on a daily basis. The Telefónica team have this at the forefront
of their minds as they build a strong human force, which today welcomes two
new additions: Spaniard Javier de la Plaza and South Africa's Jono Swain.
Javier de la Plaza (Spain) is another Spaniard who
debuts with the Telefónica team. Javier will be trimming on one of the team
entries in this Volvo Ocean Race, although he's aware that it's important to
be an all-rounder in the world of circumnavigation: "I'm a trimmer, but on a
boat like this you always have to do a bit of everything: you need to be a
trimmer, take the helm or the pit, but I mainly trim the sails and take care
of that side of things," says the Spaniard.
His CV boasts Olympic achievements; Silver and Bronze in two European 49er
Championships and a fourth place at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, also
in the 49er class. Javier was also World Champion in the 49er class in 2000,
a title that he also holds in the J80 class. In the TP52 class sailing in
the MedCup Circuit, Javier has been one of the "CxG Caixagalicia" permanent
team members, reaching second place in the circuit with the team in the 2007
season.
Like many sailors, he sees the Round the World Race as one of the sailing
events, par excellence: "Doing a Volvo Ocean Race as been one of my dreams.
I think if you sail, you have to try to do one. I've been at the Olympics
and now I'm in the Volvo, and I'm also going to try to do an America's Cup
in the future", commented the Spaniard, full of enthusiasm and hope for the
future.
Jonathan Swain (South Africa) will be one of the watch
captains in the Telefonica team. Relaxed, but intense, this 41 year-old
South African with a great spirit of competition will be setting off on what
will be his fourth Volvo Ocean Race. It will also be the second consecutive
edition with the Spanish team, having sailed with Bouwe Bekking in
2005-2006. "I'm really happy to be back on the Spanish team and to be with
the Telefónica team. The last edition of the Race had an unfortunately
bitter ending for us, so this year my aim is to go out there and win the
Volvo Ocean Race."
One of Jonathan Swain's strong points, without a doubt is his experience. A
CV like his makes an impression: "This will be my fourth Volvo, so I have
a lot of sailing miles behind me and I know the Volvo Open 70s that we sail
well. I think that the most important thing I'm bringing to the boat is my
experience in this kind of competition."
Jonathan was a member of the "Aloha Racing" America's Cup challenger in 2000
and later went on to compete in various Acts in 2004 with South African
Challenge "Shosholozsa." He's also taken part in many other prestigious
sailing events, such as the Rolex Sydney-Hobart, the MedCup Circuit, which
he won in 2006 with Mean Machine and the Middle Sea Race, as well as various
Farr 40 World's and Mumm 30 competitions. These are just a few examples on a
long list of sailing achievements.
Over the next few weeks the crewmembers of the two Spanish Volvo Ocean Race
entries "Telefonica blue" and "Telefonica black" will be defined, and we
will see who will be defending the Spanish flag in the Volvo Ocean Race
2008-2009.
Telefónica crew confirmed so far:
1. Bouwe Bekking
2. Iker Martínez
3. Fernando Echávarri
4. Jordi Calafat
5. Xabi Fernández
6. Pepe Ribes
7. Jaime Arbones
8. Gonzalo Araujo
9. Simon Fisher
10. Javier de la Plaza
11. Jonathan Swain