Suspension over, de Ridder to sail in Volvo Ocean Race
Dirk de Ridder will sail the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race with Team Brunel, his first major competition since serving an 18month suspension stemming from one of the biggest scandals in America's Cup history.
De Ridder will replace Laurent Pages, who broke two ribs during the stopover in Auckland, New Zealand. The team said Pages was injured when he tripped and fell. De Ridder joins the crew for the toughest leg of the round-the-world race, from Auckland to Itajai, Brazil. The leg is 6,776 nautical miles and swings through the unforgiving Southern Ocean.
Team Brunel is in third place overall.
The Dutchman has sailed the Volvo Ocean Race three times previously, winning it with ill-bruck Challenge in 2001-02 and finishing second with Merit cup in 1997-98 and second with Pirates of the Caribbean in 2005-06.
De Ridder had a $500,000 contract to sail the Volvo Ocean Race with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing but was suspended by the International Sailing Federation for allegedly altering a boat used in warmup regattas by Oracle Team USA prior to the 2013 America's Cup. De Ridder has denied involvement.
In the harshest penalties in America's Cup history, ISAF tossed de Ridder out of the 2013 America's Cup four days before it began and docked Oracle Team USA two points in the standings. After falling behind Emirates Team New Zealand 81, Oracle won the final eight races in one of the greatest comebacks in sports to retain the Auld Mug.
ISAF later suspended de Ridder for five years, which was reduced to three years. De Ridder took his case to the Court of Ar- bitration for Sport, which, after finding fault with both de Ridder and ISAF, reduced it to 18 months.
The harsh punishment has caused outrage among some in sailing. Paul Henderson, a former ISAF president and former member of the International Olympic Committee, and former Oracle Team USA sailor Matt Mitchell have filed complaints of gross misconduct against the five members of an international jury that handed down the penalties. Mitchell was suspended for the first four races of the America's Cup.