Volvo Ocean Race - Music to Bouwe Bekking's ears
by Team Brunel on 26 Oct 2014
The calm after the rain and strong winds. The crew are damp but enjoy the sunset. Stefan Coppers/Team Brunel
Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, onboard Team Brunel. So close yet so far away. We sail near Brazil, less than 300 miles from Rio de Janeiro. The city where scantily clad women are parading on the Copacabana beach. In my mind I see in the background three mustachioed Brazilians playing the song 'Guantanamera' on a tiny guitar.
The only sounds aboard the Dutch Volvo Ocean Race boat is that of crunching winches and the carbon hull pounding in the huge waves of the Atlantic Ocean. For skipper Bouwe Bekking these sounds are music to his ears. In the dead of night, he steers Team Brunel over the equator.
The 51-year-old skipper is standing at the helm as if he is eighteen again. His knees are slightly bent, his hood pulled over his head with a constant smile on his face. 'Welcome to the southern waters,' he shouts through the cockpit.'During big winds and heavy seas there are teams that are tapping the brakes,' says Rokas Milevicius. 'But Bouwe is just pushing harder in these circumstances.' This is his Copacabana.
I kindly ask navigator Andrew Cape to drop me off at the real Copacabana. 'No problem, but I hope you don’t mind to take the 300 miles swim,' he laughs. Team Brunel website
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