Photos: L ©2008 María Muiña/Equipo Telefónica R ©2008 María Muiña/Equipo Telefónica

Printable version  News feed

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:00:00 UTC

Telefonica have announced two more crew members - the experienced South African Jono Swain and Spanish debutant Javier de la Plaza.

Swain, 41, who hails from Durban will be a watch captain in the Telefonica ranks. It will be his fourth Volvo. Previously he was aboard Chessie Racing in 1997-98 and Team Tyco in 2001-02.

It will be the second consecutive edition with the Spanish team, having sailed with Bouwe Bekking on the ill-fated movistar which sank in the transatlantic in the 2005-06 race.

“I’m really happy to be back on the Spanish team and to be with the Telefonica,” he said. “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 race.”

Thirty-five-year-old de la Plaza, from Santander, will fill the role of trimmer 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,” he said. “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.”

de la Plaza’s CV boasts silver and bronze in two European 49er championships and a fourth place at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, also in the 49er class.

He 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 a regular on the C x G Caixagalicia team which clinched second place overall in the 2007 season.

He sees participation in the Volvo as the ultimate. “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.”

You can watch hours of race video at www.VolvoOceanRace.tv, the official Race TV channel for free!

 Back to news      News Archive