Nagel Completes First Leg Of Volvo Ocean Race
On October 30, Team AzkoNobel, including Bermudian sailor Emily Nagel, finished fourth in the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 – a six-day passage from Alicante, Spain to Lisbon, Portugal.
The team AkzoNobel crew, led by Simeon Tienpont, crossed the finish line in the Tagus river adjacent to the Volvo Ocean Race Village six days, six hours and 11 minutes since leaving Alicante on October 22.
Ahead of team AkzoNobel were leg winners Vestas 11th Hour Racing [DEN / USA], second placed Mapfre [ESP and Dongfeng Race Team [CHN] in third.
Team AkzoNobel’s website reported: “It was an impressive performance, especially since team AkzoNobel sailed the leg with one fewer sailors than the six other teams.”
Tienpont added: “We were pleased to be out there racing and after the start we just all did our thing. We trusted in the way we had set the boat up and we proved we could pass people.
“It’s a result that we have to be happy with. As a crew, we always want more – but this is a good result to build on for the rest of the race.”
This is 23-year-old Nagel’s first race around the world.
Nagel, who started sailing at the age of 10, holds a Masters degree in engineering from Southampton University. She completed an internship with America’s Cup team SoftBank Japan, giving her invaluable experience in the eyes of her AkzoNobel skipper Tienpont.
“She knows from her America’s Cup background how a professional sailing team runs and that is very important. Although professional sailing is quite new for her, she brings a huge amount of experience with her engineering degree and her technical knowledge,” he said.
“We were looking for a strong, powerful woman with a lot of technical capabilities and someone who could really fit in well with the existing group and Emily was a great fit for that.”
In two days Nagel and the rest of the team AkzoNobel sailors will set off from Lisbon on the 12,964-kilometer second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, bound this time for Cape Town, South Africa.
