Simon Fisher. Image copyright Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Volvo Ocean Race media
The two Telefonica teams will take an unchanged crew into leg eight, but Telefonica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking has revealed a navigation reshuffle is on the horizon.
Tom Addis is currently the team's navigator, a position he has held since assuming the role from Simon Fisher during the Qingdao stopover ahead of leg five.
Fisher remained on the boat as a helmsman and trimmer, but was rested from leg seven and will now miss leg eight before taking Addis' position onboard for the final two sprints between Mastrand, Stockholm and St Petersburg.
The move is targeting the shorter coastal stages on legs nine and 10 and Fisher - who has retained his navigation role in Blue's highly successful in-port race roster - is deemed to have the specialist knowledge for the job.
'We have the same guys onboard as in the last leg,' Bekking said. 'Then SiFi (Fisher) will return in Marstrand because the last two legs we really see like inshore legs.'
He added: 'Tom has done a fantastic job on the overall weather picture and SiFi is also a very good navigator and we just want to race as the inshore races; that is how we have been treating it until now.
'That is why we are announcing now SiFi will be the navigator on the last two legs and Tom will step off in Marstrand.'
Addis, 39, was initially the team's meteorologist, but was brought onto the boat ahead of leg three when Laurent Pages was ruled out with an injury.
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