Hi All,
Just a quick hello to check you are all still alive and enjoying the summer. Since my last update which I think was back at the beginning of the year, I’ve been a busy boy as usual. In February I headed off for couple of months in Namibia as part of the SailRocket team trying to break the world speed sailing record. We got really close but alas no records, it takes a long time to get such an extreme craft ‘dialled in’ and unfortunately pretty much the first time we made an attempt with everything perfect, a small piece of rigging failed and Paul (the pilot) crashed at around 47 knots. It was very messy all round with the boat in bits and Paul requiring a night in hospital. Anyway we got it all fixed up and went again but never quite had the right conditions, we did get within a knot of the outright record for a mile but unfortunately it wasn’t to be this time. The team will be back out there at some point soon though and I’ve no doubt will continue their upward performance trend.
We got back to the UK at the end of April and whilst we’d been away I’d lined up a new deal that saw me start work with Offshore Challenges (OC) at the beginning of June. OC is the company that have managed all of Ellen MacArthur’s projects over the years and now managed the BT and Artemis Sailing teams. My role is within the Artemis Sailing team and specifically with the Figaro class for 2009 and maybe beyond… Anyway before I go into too much detail there, I kept myself busy in May with various ventures including a last minute decision to cycle from Lands End to John O’Groat s with my girlfriend Sophie. We carried all of our kit with us including a tent, sleeping bags, freeze dried food, water purification tablets, spares etc. It was a totally new thing for both of us and we set of with little planning just determined to enjoy ourselves. In the end it was a lot easier than we thought, we took around 11 days cycling something like 85 miles a day on average and just camped wherever we could, sometimes we found nice campsites but often it was pub beer gardens or even just by the side of the road. Anyway this and finding a new home for the first time in a very long time kept me busy until I started work in June. We now live in Lymington, just 30 minutes from Southampton, a relatively easy commute to Cowes where OC are based and easy for me to get to France whenever I need to, oh and right next to the sea of course!
As part of the Artemis Sailing team my first event was the Mini Fastnet with my French friend Charlie Dalin. We made a cracking start and were first out into The Channel as the fleet headed for the Wolf Rock just South of Lands End, before Rounding the Fastnet and finishing back to Douarnenez in NW Brittany where this classic race always starts and finishes from. Anyway the wind completely shut off during the first night and we spent around 8 hours drifting around trying to avoid cargo ships, not the most relaxing of experiences in a 21 footer with no radar…. Anyway we were something like 19th when the wind filled in the next day, and we then spent the rest of the race battling back to finish 4th from 45.
Next up was a bit of training on the Artemis Figaro with Jonny Malbon, the Artemis Vendee Globe (solo non stop around the world on Open 60s) skipper from the 2008 race, who is spending 2009
honing his solo sailing skills in the Figaro class. The Figaro is the only major class of offshore racing yachts that I haven’t been involved with before, having competed in Mini’s, Open 40s, 50s and 60s, Volvo 70s and Maxi-Cats, so it’s great to complete the ‘experience’. As well as competing in the big doublehanded event of the year, the Tour de Bretagne, part of my job has been to learn all about the class with Jonny and help him prepare for the Solitaire du Figaro which is effectively the solo sailing world championships, a gruelling 4 leg event with each leg being around 500 miles. However just prior to the start of this event in mid July, I flew to Stockholm to join a few old faces from the crew of Team Russia’s KOSATKA to sail her back to her spiritual home in St Petersburg as part of the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. It was good to be back amongst old faces and a welcome break from the ‘little boats’! Ok back again the Figaro and the Solitaire itself, without going into too much detail, Jonny had a tough time but together we learnt some good lessons and as a result he got better each leg which was great to see.
Straight after the Solitaire, a busy summer saw me roll straight into the Class 40 Worlds with my old TJV co-skipper, Tanguy de Lamotte. Unfortunately after winning the practise race and following this up with a 2nd place in the opening race of the series, a major incident on the startline of race 3 saw us break our bowsprit and cause some serious damage elsewhere. A simple case of miscommunication between the helmsman and tactician (thankfully I was neither) resulted in a very disappointing and expensive race. Unable to carry out a satisfactory repair over night we were out of the event and the chance of a first world championship title came and went…
As I said this summer has been a little hectic and directly after the end of the worlds I popped over to Dieppe to collect the Figaro from the end of the Solitaire and bring her back solo to Lymington. My first solo sailing for a while and great training for the forthcoming Tour of Bretagne. After a few days further training bashing up and down the Solent, with Jonny Malbon also onboard, we have just arrived in St Malo to get ready for the start on Saturday. The Tour de Bretagne is a doublehanded Figaro stage race around Brittany’s beautiful coastline and features legends such as Jean Le Cam, a triple winner of the Solitaire du Figaro and top 60 ft trimaran and Open 60 skipper, who famously lost his keel just before Cape Horn in the last Vendee Globe and who finished second in the 2004 edition. With this being my first event in the class and Jonny being a relative newcomer too, we don’t really have any direct ambitions but hopefully a few good results will come our way!!
Overall it’s been a funny year for me so far, the first time in a while not to have a specific project but it’s been a lot of fun and I guess this is the reality of the financial situation right now. It’s actually been quite nice not to have so much responsibility for once and to have a bit of time to enjoy myself. Along with the cycling, I’ve also started surfing and playing a bit of golf and tennis which has been fantastic.
Anyway that’s me for now, I will update you again at the end of the Tour in 10 days time! Enjoy the last of the summer and stay in touch.
Cheers, Nick
