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Arriving in the Netherlands at the beginning of the week, Simon SHAW (GBR), Jeremy ELLIOT (GBR) and Paul CAMPBELL-JAMES (GBR), who have been members of the Volvo RYA Keelboat Squad since it's infancy, have already survived the first cut to make it into the final twelve, of which five will be selected this evening to go on to the final trials.

Team Abn Amro have two boats entered in the Volvo Ocean Race and the selected eight crew from the 'Big Brother' style trials, who are all aged between 21 and 30, will compete on the second boat with four core crew members in the 2005/2006 Volvo Ocean Race.

Under the guidance of sailing director Roy HEINER (NED), the twelve team members who are now left in the international trial will spend today showing off their variety of sailing skills.

If they are picked they will then go on to join the fifteen sailors, who have already been selected from Abn Amro's home markets of Brazil, the Netherlands and the USA, in a further two weeks of trials. The final eight, made up of two sailors from each category will be announced on 25 March 2005.

One of the primary objectives of the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme, since its introduction in 2003, has been to provide training to sailors in the squad with the hope that some of them will go on to compete in the world's prestigious keelboat events.

SHAW has been impressed by the trials so far: 'there are really good people here. It will be quite a task for the selectors to take it down to five and then to the final two in Portugal next week.'