Shipping equipment around the world is a race all its own
With nine points of call, including Abu Dhabi, scattered along the way to the finish line in Sweden next summer, the amount of equipment on the ground at each stop is impressive, from sewing machines for sails to extra parts for almost any possibility.
Then it all has to be multiplied by two. Because of the turnaround in shipping and delivery, the seven teams in the Volvo Ocean Race have two of everything.
With 21 days between the start of the race in Alicante and the end of the first leg in Cape Town, it is impossible to disassemble and ship the gear to South Africa in three weeks, ahead of the regatta’s arrival.
So, a second set of gear already has been sent ahead. This ensures each set of equipment appears at alternate stops along the route and never appears in the same port at the same time.
The Alicante equipment will next be seen in Abu Dhabi, where the fleet is expected to arrive between December 11 and 15.
Seeing double
If it seems odd that an around-the-world feast of 39,000 nautical miles starts with a tiny morsel of hors d’oeuvres, it is a common sentiment.
The nine-month Volvo Ocean Race begins with an in-port race on Saturday that should take less than an hour to complete.
It is the sporting equivalent of staging a 100-metre sprint before running a marathon, though this year, the short bits have been greatly devalued. Previously, points earned through the one-day in-port events were included in the cumulative race totals for the teams.
This time, the in-port races staged at the nine race harbours will count in a very narrow context – as a tiebreaker in the event that the overall race finishes in a deadlock. That seems like a long shot, at least at first blush.
“If it was ever going to happen, it would be in this race,” said Neal McDonald, the performance manager of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team.
That is because, for the first time, all the boats in the race are effectively identical, made by the same manufacturer with the same specifications.
VOR’s extended Abu Dhabi stay to make for a long party
As was the case in the 2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race, the second port of call this time round the world is Abu Dhabi, where the fleet will spend an extended stay of up to three weeks.
The Destination Village on the Corniche opens on December 12 and the boats are expected to arrive on December 11 or soon after and will stay into the new year.
The in-port race is scheduled for January 2. The fleet leaves for Sanya, China, on January 3. The race website suggests: “The place to party till it’s 2015 will be Abu Dhabi.”
Heavy medal
Two familiar faces from the UAE sports scene will be on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam boat this weekend, when sponsors and special visitors are invited aboard for a run around the Alicante area.
English brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, probably the two biggest names in world triathlon, will be taken out on the open water, a team official said.
They finished 1-2 at the London Olympic Games and finished in a tie for first on the short course of the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon earlier this year.
Accessories extra
Though the race-wide move to a single-design boat to save costs has proven effective – with teams spending as much as one-third less on the yachts compared to the race of three years ago when each boat was individually designed – that does not mean they are cheap.
A team official put the cost of a Volvo Ocean Race craft, outfitted with the same gear that the seven racing crews will use, at €4.4 million (Dh20.44m).
That is before the customised, logo-strewn sails and hull paint jobs are added.
Dirty work
Not all of the work this week is taking place above the waterline. On Wednesday, a pair of divers worked on the boats as they were docked.
Mostly, they were checking for growth on the hulls that might slow the speed of the boats, even though the craft had been back in the water for only a few hours.
As one of the divers hosed himself off after climbing out of the murky green water along the dock area in Alicante, he noted that the warm water temperatures of the Mediterranean, plus a rainstorm that sent water from the seaside city cascading into the sea, left a less-than-enticing scene under water.
“With the rain and the sewage run-off, it was not nice,” he said.
Young and experienced
Luke “Parko” Parkinson, a native of Sydney, will park his skateboard for most of the next nine months while he serves as a bowman and helmsman on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam.
Parkinson, 24, is one of the two required under-30 sailors on the boat. In a profile on the race’s website, he has some advice for young people.
“If you really want something and enjoy doing something, then chase it and do everything you can to give yourself the best opportunity to do what you love to do.”
He has been sailing since age 7. He is also a sail maker, a certified radio operator and is experienced in first aid and sea survival.
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