Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 – Team Brunel- daily business

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 19 Dec 2014 Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 - After the end of each leg, the sailors of Team Brunel get a week off, starting two days after arrival. These days are intended for resting, training and, most of all, enjoying time with the family. Everyone does that in their own way.

'Another five,' shouts manual therapist Mark Haak to Bouwe Bekking. The skipper of Team Brunel, his face fixed in concentration, is hanging from a two-metre-high fitness machine in the gym of the Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan hotel. He has to draw himself up twelve times. The 51-year-old Bekking is fully fit. His arms and legs are muscled. His body is toned. He completes the exercise without much effort. Only a few drops of sweat on his tanned forehead betray any exertion.

'During the stopovers it’s business as usual,' says Bouwe Bekking, as he wipes the sweat from his head with a towel. 'I start every morning in the gym, where I go through a different programme every day. It’s a combination of cardio and power exercises. During a leg, you not only lose body fat but also muscle tissue – mostly in your legs.'

In the hotel garden below, Gerd-Jan Poortman is enjoying breakfast with his family. As with most young families, the breakfast table is a battlefield of bread crusts and half-full beakers. A bit further away, three-year-old Melle and two-year-old Loek Poortman are running over the adjacent lawn. 'After a leg, I have to acclimatise a bit before I can really throw myself back into family life,' says Gerd-Jan Poortman as he smiles at his fiancée Eveline. 'More than twenty days on a boat sailing as fast as possible over the ocean is a bit different to bringing up and amusing two young children. I wouldn’t be able to do this race without the support of my family. I’ve an enormous amount of respect for Eveline. This would be hard to imagine for the average family. I’ve now been away from home for almost a year, and for all of those months, she has kept our home going on her own.'

But, like the other sailors, before Gerd-Jan can enjoy time with his family, he has to be available two days after the finish for interviews, medical checks and a host of other commitments. 'On the third day after the finish we’re free and then I switch over to relaxation mode,' continues Gerd-Jan. 'I try to spend time in the swimming pool with the kids and Eveline every day. We also regularly go on excursions. That depends entirely on the country and the city where the stopover takes place. For instance, in Cape Town we visited Table Mountain and went to a wildlife park. In Abu Dhabi, we’re certainly going to visit a shopping mall once and next week we plan to visit a zoo with the kids.'

Actually, not all of the sailors will be celebrating Christmas in Abu Dhabi. Rokas Milevicius, Pablo Arrarte, Louis Balcaen and Stefan Coppers will all be spending the holiday with family and friends back home.

During the stopovers, skipper Bouwe Bekking spends his days rather differently to the rest of the sailors. 'After my daily workout and breakfast, I cycle to the team base,' he says. 'There I have a daily meeting with shore manager Anita van Oeveren and our team manager Gideon Messink. During these meetings, we discuss all sorts of team-related issues such as the status of the boat’s maintenance or what sponsor commitments are on the programme. After that, I might answer my e-mails or give a presentation for one of our sponsors. From Friday, I’ll then switch to relaxation mode like the rest of the lads and I’m going to enjoy time with my family. In South Africa, we went to Stellenbosch and soaked up the beautiful countryside and the delicious food. I don’t know yet what we’re going to do in Abu Dhabi but we’re certainly going to do something nice.'

'The boat is onshore and is now going through maintenance, like the other five VO 65 boats. We’ll be going back in the water on 28 December. From that time on, everyone will have to be ready again, and we’ll start preparing for the following leg to Sanya, which will start on January Event website