VOR – Robbery on the High Seas

Volvo Ocean Race skipper Dee Caffari has extended the current UK gender pay row onto the high seas. Caffari is reported to have claimed that changes to the VOR crewing rules, intended to bring more women into the race, has led to teams trying to sign-up women on the cheap.

The race organisers changed the crew numbers allowed on board for the 2017-18 race depending on the gender split.

All male crews can number no more than seven, but the crew can number a total of nine if two women are included, and this increases to ten if the gender split is equal.

Caffari claims that cut-rate pay has been offered to women on the basis that they should be glad of the opportunity!

Caffari, who has completed multi, single-handed round the world races, is skippering Turn the Tide on Plastic which is aiming for a ten strong crew.

Thus the crew will consist of five men and five women, and on Turn the Tide six of those places will be for sailors under the age of 30.

Finding experienced crew to meet this criteria has proved a tough task for Caffari, and she still has to name at least two more women, as well as possible back-up crew.

Turn the Tide on Plastic crew named to date: Skipper Dee Caffari, Boat Captain Liz Wardley, Bleddyn Mon, Francesca Clapich, Bernardo Freitas, Henry Bomby, Lucas Chapman and Francisco Pinheiro de Melo.

The Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign is backed by the Mirpuri Foundation and the Ocean Family Foundation, and will amplify the United Nations Environment’s ‘Clean Seas: Turn the Tide on Plastic’ message throughout the Race.

The round-the-world race, starts 22 October 2017 from Alicante.