Abu Dhabi: The change in rules for this season’s Volvo Ocean Race has put all teams on a level playing field and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker is well aware that there is now no room for “excuses”.

“Sure, this is my best chance to win the race. In the previous races, the gap between the top team and the rest of pack was a lot. It was like Formula One. Now everyone will be having yachts with the same specifications and I’m hoping that we will have an edge,” said Walker, after giving journalists a feel of what it is to be on the deck of a sail yacht in sweltering heat at the Abu Dhabi Corniche.

Walker has beefed up his squad with a blend of youth and experience this season. His yacht Azzam will have four new sailors.

“After the end of last year’s race, we did a full appraisal about various things. We wanted to know where we did better, where we could improve and change,” said Walker, a two-time Olympic sliver medallist in the star and 470 class.

“We wanted to keep some consistency and didn’t want to tear the team apart as we had worked hard to build a team,” added Walker, whose eight-member team includes Simon Fisher, Justin Slattery, Chuny Bermudez, Phil Harmer, Andrew McLean, Luke Parkinson and Emirati Adil Khalid.

Walker was also of the view that it was a tough task for him to select new hands on deck for the season as lots of sailors were willing to be a part of a team like Abu Dhabi.

“The people who have joined are the ones who have sailed before or [were] recommended to me. One of our young lads is 23-year-old Parkinson from Australia and I got to know him during the Sydney Hobart Race. There are hundreds of people who want to sail in this race but the team is so small and obviously, you have to say no to so many people,” said Walker, who was also all praise for homebred talent Khalid.

“Khalid has improved in leaps and bounds. To someone who had never sailed out-shore to somebody who can steer the boat… trim the sails and now responsible for deck gear on board. He has put on a lot of muscle and he needs to keep pushing as a senior team member and get more Emiratis involved.”

Walker and his crew’s preparedness will be tested in August during the 2000-mile Round Britain and Ireland race.

“All the teams will be sailing there and that will be a big test for us. It will give us the much-needed experience ahead of the Volvo Ocean Race. At present, our yacht is in Portugal and this is a maintenance week. We will sail across the Atlantic in a week’s time,” said Walker, whose team finished fifth last season in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Walker and his crew have been focusing a lot on fitness and diet in the build-up to this season but a good start will also be imperative for the skipper to get the desired result. “This year, we are ready but we will have to be consistent, and all through the eight months. Try and finish in the top three as much as possible. Once you get a good start, it will settle the crew and even put the sponsors at ease,” said Walker, adding that he expected the first two legs of the race to present a good challenge.

“In the first leg, you got to get out of the Mediterranean, which is tricky. You got a long period of trade wind sailing, got to cross the equator and then you got a bit of the south ocean. That is sort of a mirror image of the leg two to Abu Dhabi and it will be the longest and wearing test.”