(Sports Focus) Chinese skipper Guo unveils crew team for Arctic Ocean world record challenge

Chinese skipper Guo Chuan announced his crew team for Arctic Ocean world record challenge on Saturday.

The world solo non-stop circumnavigation recorld holder of Class 40 monohull presented all his crews, including four sailors besides himself and a media crew.

Boris Herrmann from Germany is the youngest crew in the team and one of the greatest sailing crews in Germany presently, Jochen Krauth and Quentin Monegier are from France and both have many years' experience in top-class international events on big yachts, Sergei Nizovtsev earns his nationwide fame in Russia as an exploring legend, and Tim Frank from Germany will be media crew on the boat.

Very pleased to have such a strong team, Guo Chuan said: "We have spent two years building the team, finally now we get all six crews on the trimaran. Every crew are among the most excellent in sailing industry, but everyone keeps humble and easy-going."

The 50-year-old Chinese has been planning to conquer a new routine of the Maritime Silk Road later this year, following Zheng He's footprints 610 years ago in commanding expeditionary voyages after navigating across the Arctic Ocean for new record.

After all crews sailed together on Friday afternoon for the first time, Guo gave a very high praise of his crews.

"We work together and everything runs smoothly. It is great team spirit," he added. "As a first Chinese skipper to lead an international team, I feel quite honored."

To record this historic voyage and witness another new world sailing record, Guo's strategic partner Demedia will finance production of a documentary temporarily named as "Chuan' s Ocean".

The documentary will be directed by the famous British historian and documentary filmmaker Stuart Binns, who won over 30 international awards for factuals. It will be produced into a movie, documentary series and video clips and released in over 40 countries and regions.

"This documentary will not only record my sailing stories, but also all about the team. It is the first time that a trimaran bearing the name of a Chinese city 'China Qingdao' was led by a Chinese skipper with an international team to challenge a world record in North Pole," said Guo.

"Therefore, regardless of the results of this challenge, this documentary will witness the courage and determination of Chinese sailing to explore the world," he added. Endi