Almost as many as a compass

by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS on 6 Nov 2017 Points that is. As in points of interest, and the subject is the mighty Volvo Ocean Race. First there was the whole car company needing a conservative approach, and the conversion to the two-year cycle thing, even though approved, meant the CEO said thanks, no thanks (but still hung around).

Then there were the teams themselves. OK it’s true that it was not all of them, but they definitely had their own political intrigue. It ranged from curious to incredulous. Alas, as if the pre-start ashore was not enough of ‘dancing with the stars’, out on the water the early runnings caused a massive change in the form guide, whilst punters went looking for that lost ticket with 100:1 for the winner. Ah yes, must time for the race that stops the nation! First week of Puntmas? My left foot…

Yet there are way more interesting and beguiling facts in the event itself, and this whole set of miscellaneous ramblings got started in the village proper. Not the one that is the collective noun for a group of TPs, but the VOR race village. Many may not know, but there are two sets of everything for when the circus comes to town. There has to be, for there is just not enough time to bounce in, set up, run it, collapse it all, and then transport it on for the next cycle.

Alicante’s version headed off to Cape Town, and Lisbon’s will head for Melbourne, and so on. You get the picture. Yet whilst in Europe last week I got to learn that Volvo’s own patch accounts for some 68 containers! That’s a lot to be leapfrogging around the globe, and those in logistics will be able to quantify that right now. Many, many Euros I suspect. And then there’s everyone else’s to deal with…

Others are even more scathing, getting into the race itself, once referred to as the Everest of Yachting. Alas, you don’t have to look to far to find merit in their arguments, either. Specifically, they question if the race is actually first rate, and are the vessels themselves really the thin edge of the wedge? The mighty VO60s were the safest the race had ever seen, and turned a wicked hand of speed, especially in the Southern Ocean. Farr did well with those.

The VO70s were spectacular, especially in their last iteration, and almost reminded one of the Group B rally cars of the ‘80s. There were huge differences in the speeds of the boats, and other designers, like Juan K, even turned their hand to these speed demons. Racing 11up inshore was certainly a test, and offshore it would have been brutal. The VO65 came along, and OD made for a great playing field, even if they never punched like a VO70, but in their second full outing they are no longer bleeding edge, and easily allow those who say ‘the VOR follows the IMOCAs’ to put their feet up on their Ottomans, spark up a Montecristo #4 and say, ‘I told you so!’

And just on that point, those with their Ottomans would be very quick to say that the even the second placed boat with a broken wing would beat them all, let alone Armel le Cléac'h in Banque Populaire VIII. The same group would even suggest previous generations of IMOCA 60s would do well. And there is Volvo saying the next boat will be a foiling monohull. Ground breaking team – just ground breaking. Turn that sod…

So as their cigars burned on, and the Cognac began to be only on the walls of their balloons, they would turn their attention to the sailors themselves. Are they the equivalent of F1 pilots? Remembering of course that the world’s best ralliers have whipped their tarmac cousins in the same cars, and that was before they even tried the real stuff.

One of our cigar den types actually stated, “…there are some top racers, but the majority are far from being the world’s best offshore sailors, and now we have reached a point where the rules are bent to allow an advantage in having women instead of men. Top racing is done with the best of the best, being men or women, not giving some advantage in having women among the crew.” Wow. How many automatic weapon toting dudes in balaclavas does this person want on their door?

The same set also go on to look at individual sailors’ offshore CVs and also the ubiquitous Nationality Rule. Might leave them to it there, me thinks. However, gotta say, can’t help but wonder if the whole thing has become way too much like big business, and much less about the yachting... And yes, there’s almost a medieval book title in there, I am sure.

Now here’s the one that is certainly in the drama section of the video store (if there are any of those left, other than the virtual ones). Talking of drama titles, we see that Larry Ellison is waiting until the rules comes out before proceeding with a challenge for the 36th AC. How are those pickets going Larry? Hhhhmmmmm. Wait and see. Wait and see.

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