Sailing: Aleh swaps dinghies for big boats in Sydney to Hobart race

Jo Aleh, right, won silver at this year's Rio Olympics with Polly Powrie. Photo / Sailing Energy / Sailing World

Two-time Olympic medallist Jo Aleh is swapping dinghies for big boats for the time being with the hope of racing in next year's Volvo Ocean Race.

Next week she will be among 13 Kiwis on board the supermaxi CQS competing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starting on Boxing Day. Chris Dickson, Chris Main and Rodney Keenan will be watch captains on skipper Ludde Ingvall's yacht.

Aleh, who together with Polly Powrie won gold at the 2012 London Olympics in the women's 470 and backed it up with silver at the Rio Games earlier this year, is taking a break from the 470.

"I'm trying to get into the Volvo [Ocean Race] and see if I can make that step into a different part of sailing. It's good to be here in Sydney and learning every day.

"I'm waiting to see what happens and what teams come on board for the Volvo. It's a bit of a waiting game at the moment."

So far, only two teams have entered - Dutch outfit Team AkzoNobel and China's Dongfeng Race Team - which for the second time will be raced in the one-design Volvo Ocean 65.

The 38,739 nautical mile race is expected to take nine months, starting in Alicante, Spain, in October and stopping at 10 ports, including Auckland.

CQS will be one of four supermaxis competing in the Sydney to Hobart race- the others are Wild Oats XI, Perpetual LOYAL and Scallywag - and this will be its first major race after a year-long rebuild and lengthening. It took line honours in 2004 at the 90-foot Nicorette.

It will also be Aleh's first serious offshore race, although she was on board during the delivery voyage of CQS from Auckland to Sydney earlier this month.