Promising Chinese sailors cutting their teeth on Dongfeng in Volvo Ocean Race
The future looks bright for Chinese sailing with six up-and-comers cutting their teeth as crew members on Dongfeng in the Volvo Ocean Race
He missed being born on Valentine's Day by a few hours, but Horace Chen Jinhao, the "baby" of the Dongfeng Race Team , is in a love affair destined to make him one of China's top ocean racers.
Chen is in love with the sea. At 22, he is the youngest member of the crew on the mainland boat starring in the Volvo Ocean Race, and has been marked as a man who could transform sailing in China.
Skipper Charles Caudrelier says Chen has "heaps of potential" and hopes that one day the Shenzhen native will become the first Chinese sailor to skipper an ocean racer.
I did the first two legs from Alicante to Cape Town and from there to Abu Dhabi but had to make way for my fellow Chinese sailors
"Horace has the talent. He could be the first Chinese skipper in the Volvo Ocean Race," says Frenchman Caudrelier, who is at the helm of Dongfeng, the boat with a half-Chinese, half-Western crew which has surprised many with its performances in the ongoing round-the-world race.
After finishing second in both the first two legs, from Alicante in Spain, to Cape Town, South Africa, and from there to Abu Dhabi, Dongfeng hit the front of the fleet in the third leg as it headed across the Indian Ocean bound for Sanya on China's southeast coast.
Its lead, however, came under threat in the Malacca Straits as it ran out of wind and the crew and its support team face an anxious time as they head for Sanya.
There are six more legs to be conquered before the finishing line in Gothenburg, Sweden.