Volvo Ocean Race – Team Vestas Wind tracking towards Alicante

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World Team on 6 Sep 2014 The seventh entry in the Volvo Ocean Race Team Vestas Wind, the Danish entry is tracking towards Alicante. She left Southampton last Sunday heading for the starting line.

There are four Volvo veterans aboard the boat with former Camper skipper Chris Nicholson whereas three of the crew are on the first Volvo Ocean Race tour. Nicholson, Tony Rae and Rob Salthouse have previous Volvo experience, in fact ten Volvo Ocean Races between them and Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak and Argentinian Maciel Ciehtti have previous race experience.

This morning when Sail-World spoke to Australian skipper Chris Nicholson they had just rounded Gibraltar and were abeam of the rock. Nicholson was typically upbeat about his journey and his progress so far but he did confess he had been having some doubts as recently when they left Southampton.

You are just going through Gibraltar?

We have got past the Rock, 20 minutes ago.

The breeze has been very quiet.

Yes it has. 14/15, we had 20 to 25 and we are in about 20 knots now. I guess all in all it has been a bit tame unfortunately but it has also allowed us to get to a massive… so all good.

Training?

For the time we have had I couldn’t be happier with how things are going. It is always hard to tell by yourself but we are learning a lot about the boat and ourselves. It has been a good trip. There hasn’t been a day gone by where we get to the end of it and go that was really beneficial. I hoping that starts to slow up soon so if it does start to slow up a little bit at least that means that we are half way towards getting there but at the moment every day we are discovering so much about the boat. It could be good or it could be bad.

What do you think about the boat?

I actually quite like it. The upwind performance is pretty average. The downwind reaching and running is great. It’s quite a technical boat in terms of the ballast tanks, the stacking and also the daggerboard set up. It’s all quite interesting stuff and quite refreshing to get put into an arena you don’t know.

Ballast tanks, what sort of volume?

I think it is 800 in the aft ones, one each side and then 1700 kilo forward. You can do quite a bit of alteration of the trim and then there can be extra weight as well. I am enjoying it. For me that’s the main thing, the most important thing of all is the really kind of get into it and enjoy the boat so that’s good for me.

How are the new guys going?

They are getting there rapidly. We have been forcing them to drive a lot and you can see them rapidly improving day after day. I don’t have any concerns at all about it. They are going to get there fine.

Going to feel it at the start but the finish of the race is going to be in a really high level. Our challenge is how we speed the learning process now.

Once you get the boat to Alicante you have stopped learning?

Yes. We have days that are going to be big days of testing. Today we have breeze in this 20 knot range and we are expecting light airs up to Alicante.

The other thing I would have wanted on this trip is a nice little breeze in about 30/40 knots to sort us all out. That’s the only thing we have actually missed. We have had a great variety in which have found a lot of settings so we can calibrate all of our instruments which is vital. Bur I know we have got the experience on board that when we do see that’s it really rough we will take it.

What’s you ETA?

We will be arriving on morning of the eighth, that is the date we have to be there.

The very windy stuff and checking that the drivers can handle it. I know for a fact a few of us will be able to handle it. It is really just about the young guys being able to handle it in the dark and I would say for sure we are not there yet. That kind of thing takes time and it is going to take patience from my point of view before we let loose, that can be a recipe of disaster. I will get them there as I said but that kind of driving, conditions in the night time will be baby steps.

Hoping for a gentle start to the main race?

Yes. Exactly. I would get the hard breeze coming in at Cape Town and by that stage we would have doubled the amount of time we have done in the boat so for us it is all about buying some time really. It’s how I think it will be for a couple of weeks. Give ourselves some time and the best opportunities as possible.

I feel a lot better about the whole program today than I did a week ago before that’s for sure. I had an idea of how it would go here and it has gone better so I am stoked with all that.

In the SevenStar race they were pushing the boats a lot harder than they ever did the 70s?

I don’t know how we could have pushed any harder in the last race. Nor will I know how we are going to push any harder than we are going to push in this race. The only time we throttled back is when we are quite confident the boat is going to break. It is the only thing that throws us up and that’s at the time it’s not very comfortable but that’s what you are going to do.

The data from the SevenStars indicated that they weren’t throttling back. They have confidence in the strength of the boat.

You have only got to sit downstairs on the boat. The engineering is significantly more conservative. The extraordinary conditions before we back off is how the hull was. All that does that places the emphasis on somewhere else, on either the rigging or the sail. Something always breaks if you are silly about. As far as the hull is concerned I don’t we will have to throttle back.

The new sails always put pressure on the sheets

Absolutely and because the hulls are so strong you have higher heel angle and you will have the odd wipe-out so the bows have got to withstand that. I think there has been some breakages so far from those other boats. Again the drivers are more vital than ever. They have push the boat hard and not wipe it out.

Safety?

The on deck safety is quite good. It is an interesting concept. The one design is just fantastic. The fact that we are not allowed to change anything for me as the person responsible. I am not as comfortable as I should be in regards. If this was my boat and the rules were open there are things I would change to make areas of it a bit safer downstairs. I think it will be fine. For sure I had the ability in the last race with the rules to make small changes here and there.

Anything you will be asking for changes on. Anything simple?

I want to make sure the stacking, all those parts are all locked down and safe. The rules have made allowances for us to do some improvements. Got to ensure from how the fix the boat up from how we need to race. We will put more grip on the floors, more handles in more places and they are allowing us to do that. That’s a step forward. I think it is all very close to agreement.

How is your navigator? Have you sailed with him before?

Yes I sailed in the Transatlantic with Wouter. Its going well we are just trying to work each other out, where each other’s skill sets are. We are just working out the race to be honest with you. It is one of the key relationships on board, how we get on, how we communicate and its quite the closest, we need to make sure we keep it going.

Summary?

We couldn’t have got more out of the last seven days sailing. We have been into 24 hours a day and testing the whole time. I feeling a lot better about it.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed on the start line?

Yes absolutely. Don’t worry about that. We will be pushing hard all the way.