VOR: Green Dragon Announce Crew Changes for Stockholm In-Port Race

Green Dragon finishing leg 9. Image copyright Yongtao Jiang/Green Dragon Racing.

by Lucy Harwood

Green Dragon has announced their crew for the In Port race this Sunday 21st June in Stockholm, Sweden. The team will feature a new line up including an additional grinder in the form of Swedish America’s Cup sailor Henrik Norberg and French navigator Jean-Luc Nélias. Also onboard will be Green Dragon shore team regulars Johnny Mordaunt and James Carroll. Green Dragon navigator Ian Moore has returned to the UK to be with his wife ahead the impending birth of their second child. “This was my final leg aboard the Dragon as my wife is due to have a baby during Leg 10, so I will be hanging up my boots for a few months. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us over the last 9 months and to the Green Dragon team, it has been a pleasure sailing with you all and I wish them every success in the final In Port and last leg of the race”, said Ian Moore.

“Tomorrow is still a race and we still want to do well in it. Ian Moore has left to go home for family duties! So we have Jean Luc joining us onboard, who is a very experienced offshore and inshore navigator, and I’m looking forward to sailing with him. I think he will bring something fresh and different onboard and I’m hoping he can bring something new to the team for the last push to Russia,” said Skipper Ian Walker.

The latest forecast for Sunday suggests an easterly 10 knot breeze, there is potential for the breeze to build to the low teens as the conditions move to the south east. This will be the last In Port race, with some of the final points up for grabs. The course will be a windward-leeward, with a mid-course gate and triangular viewing area. The bottom mark will also be a gate giving the yachts a choice of either mark to round for the next lap. Each leg will be two nautical miles long and the race committee will be hoping to fit in two races, with the first start kicking off at 1300 local time (GMT + 2).


Green Dragon finishing leg 9. Image copyright Yongtao Jiang/Green Dragon Racing.

Henrik Norberg (SWE)
Henrik has been sailing professionally since he was 14 years old. He has made his name of the Swedish Match racing circuit and at Victory Challenge during the America’s Cup.

America’s Cup
2007 - United Internet Team Germany
2005 - Victory Challenge
2002 - Victory Challenge

Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA)
A rigorous, well-organised and hard-working sailor. Jean-Luc has a straightforward approach and likes to get involved in every domain of his trade, a trade he mostly learnt while crewing big multihulls with the likes of Paul Vatine, Jean Maurel or Serge Madec. He then skippered the Belgacom trimarans on the ORMA circuit, Jean-Luc is an expert in terms of navigation and weather routing, he was also behind Roland Jourdain’s winning strategy during the 2006 Route du Rhum.

Sailing CV
OPEN 60 (IMOCA)
2007– Barcelona World Race with Roland Jourdain on Veolia environnement(60’ Imoca)

ORMA TRIMARANS
2003 – 2nd Trabsat Jacques Vabre on Belgacom (60’ trimaran)
2002 – Winner of the Fécamp ORMA 60 Grand Prix on Belgacom(60’ trimaran)
2001 – 3rd ORMA Championship on Belgacom (60’ trimaran)
1989 – Winner of the transat Québec St Malo on Elf Aquitaine(60’ trimaran)
1997 – 2nd Transat Jacques Vabre on Chauss’Europ (60’ trimaran)

FIGARO
2006 – 4th in the 2-handed AG2R Figaro Transat with Roland Jourdain(Figaro)
2004 – 7th overall and 1st rookie in the Solitaire du Figaro(Figaro)
1999 – Winner of The Tour de Bretagne(Figaro)

“I am looking forward to sailing onboard Green Dragon for the final section of this epic race. The In Port should provide some close and fast racing and the final leg to Russia will have its fair share of navigational challenges in store. The Volvo Ocean Race holds a lot of interest for me so it will be great to step onboard and get a taster for what it is all about!” Green Dragon navigator Jean-Luc Nélias.

Green Dragon Crew List Stockholm In Port Race
IAN WALKER (GBR) - Skipper
JEAN-LUC NELIAS (FRA) – Navigator
NEAL McDONALD (GBR) - Helm
DAMIAN FOXALL (IRL) - Mainsheet/Straegy
SCOTT MILLAR (IRL) – Trav/Runners
PHIL HARMER (AUS) - Trim
ANDREW MCLEAN (NZL) - Pit
ANTHONY MERRINGTON (AUS) - Trim
JUSTIN SLATTERY (IRL) - Bow
FREDDIE SHANKS (GBR) – Bow
JAMES CARROLL (IRL) – Pit Assist
JOHNNY MORDAUNT (IRL) – Grinder
HENRIC NORBEG (SWE) - Grinder
GUO CHUAN (CHN) - Media Crew Member

Green Dragon Racing
Volvo Ocean Race