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Crew changes for two Volvo teams

Amer Sports Too has also made changes to its crew

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Two teams in the Volvo Ocean Race have made crew changes ahead of the start of the fourth leg from New Zealand at the end of January.

Team SEB has lost British watch captain and helmsman Matthew Humphries, who resigned for personal reasons.

Briton Humphries, 30, had been with Team SEB since its beginning and has sailed with skipper Gurra Krantz for several years. He participated in three Whitbread Round the World Races, including on Integrity in 1989-90 when he as an 18-year-old became the youngest crew member ever in the race.

"I am a professional sailor and I am a very competitive person so I don't see this break I'm taking now as being something long term," Humphries said.

"Of course there will be a tear in my eye when the boat leaves on January 27 … I'll be back, but maybe not yet."

Krantz expressed sadness at Humphries' departure, but said: "We are splitting on good terms and I wish Matthew best of luck in his future endeavours."

'Dingo' Rolfe returns

But two familiar faces return to Team SEB as Aucklander David 'Dingo' Rolfe joins up for the fourth leg.

Rolfe temporarily left the crew in Sydney and is joined by Australian Anthony Merrington, who spent last winter with Team SEB at its training camp in Portugal.

Merrington has vast experience of ocean racing, including several Sydney-Hobarts, Kenwood Cups and Admiral's Cup.

Crew changes were also made to Amer Sports Too, with New Zealander Sharon Ferris leaving the syndicate to join another sailing project.

Carolijn Brouwer, from the Netherlands, who sailed the Southern Ocean Leg from Cape Town to Sydney, makes a planned return for the Auckland-Rio de Janeiro leg, replacing American Melissa Purdy.

Australian Genevieve White who stepped in to the navigator's role at short notice only a few weeks before the race start at Southampton last September, is moving aside for more experienced navigator British sailor Miranda Merron.

Impressive Sailing CVs

Merron is an experienced sailor with offshore yachtmaster qualifications. Briton Emma Richards also joins her on Amer Sports Too as a helmsman/trimmer for the fourth leg.

McDonald: "We're looking for the right combination of people for the optimum performance"

Both women have raced a total of 26,000 nautical miles together and recently sailed the Atlantic Ocean from France to Brazil: Richards on a 60 foot trimaran and Merron on an Open 60.

Skipper Lisa McDonald said: "Both women have impressive sailing CVs … They bring invaluable offshore big boat experience and so it will be fantastic to have them on board."

"The team came together at the eleventh hour really and so we never had a proper opportunity to run crew trials … There are still six legs to go, 70 percent of the points and I'm optimistic that we will get up there."

Merron said she was "apprehensive" and fully aware of the demands posed by joining the crew three stages into the race.

The next leg of the Volvo Ocean Race starts at Auckland on January 27.