As of the beginning of this year, I’ve begun work for Brewin Dolphin who are the largest independent investment management group in the UK. In plain English, I’m training to be a stockbroker. Alongside this work, I will be doing a Masters in Wealth Management which is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments. It all sounds a bit daunting for the man who scrapped through University exams by the skin of his teeth , and that was nearly ten years ago!!

It’s not a decision that I’ve come to easily, the last few years have been incredible and it seems crazy that I bought my first Mini Transat as long ago as the winter of 2001/02. Since then I’ve had so much support from all you guys it is just impossible to single people out, all I can do is say a huge thank you! The current financial situation is obviously pretty horrendous for sponsorship and to be honest I wanted a break in order to actually see my friends and family and to enjoy all the other great things in the world outside of sailing. The memories of the Mini Transat, Oryx Quest, Round Britain, Route du Rhum, TJV, Volvo and all the other great races I’ve been lucky enough to do, will keep me happy for a very long time.

Brewin have a Lymington office and that is where I’m based, with occasionally travel to London. My basic working day is whilst the stock market is open, so 0800 to 1630. This gives me so much time to do other things, although of course there is the small matter of passing a whole bunch of exams!! As part of my ‘growing up’ I’ve also bought a lovely flat in Lymington with my girlfriend Sophie.

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

Just a quick mail to let you know what’s been happening since the disappointment of Team Russia withdrawing from the Volvo Ocean Race at the end of 2008. It looks like in the short term at least, the teams financial problems aren’t something that are going to be resolved easily, so I enthusiastically embarked on a few weeks of recovery time from the rigours of the race. This mainly involved some great skiing and having a few drinks with old friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen since signing up with Team Russia at the beginning of last summer.

Anyway, unsurprisingly for most of you…. I’ve kept myself busy and have plenty of new plans on the go. Whilst watching the end of this year’s Vendee Globe (the solo non stop round the world race for Open 60s that is held ever four years, and has been my long term goal now since 2000), I’ve been working on ways of getting to the startline for 2012. Obviously the financial situation in the world means that things aren’t great for raising sponsorship at the moment but I will continue to work on this with moderated budgets and with some more ‘alternative’ ideas. The short term goal is to take part in the double handed Transat Jacques Vabre in November with one of the existing Open 60 teams. I competed in the Class 40 fleet in the last TJV and this is a logical step up. The reality is that this will also involve finding some funding to help put together a competitive package.

Right now I should be packing as tomorrow; I’m flying off for a two month stint working on a speed sailing project in Walvis Bay, Namibia. I am going to be joining the Vestas Sailrocket team www.sailrocket.com . This time I will be part of the shore crew (there is only one sailor onboard or perhaps tellingly he is known as the pilot!) Paul Larsen and his girlfriend Helena Darvelid have been working on this project for years and right now they are on the verge of becoming the outright world speed sailing record holders, which is for an average speed over a 500 metre course.

Rather than talking about it, the best thing is to check out probably their most spectacular video, which can be viewed on youtube here. It takes a while to download but is well worth it!!

Paul Larsen, the pilot, takes the Sailrocket on a record breaking run which culminated in the team taking the ‘B’ class world speed sailing record and becoming the world’s fastest sailing boat, their average speed only bettered by wind and kitesurfers. During the next run, which is also on the video, Paul’s stunning start ends in near catastrophe as Vestas Sailrocket literally takes off into the air Donald Campbell style. Thankfully both the pilot and Sailrocket are back in one piece and after waiting for a new weather window and optimisation, the team is ready to begin the next series of record runs this weekend.

Anyway I will keep you all posted on how this goes, take care and best wishes for the rest of the winter….

Cheers, Nick

We may not be at the top of the leaderboard but we are not at the bottom either and if you ask anybody on the dock which team’s having the best time, both on and off the water, the answer virtually always come back “Team Russia”. This may be ‘the Volvo Ocean Race’, the most hardcore and professional yacht race in the world but we still partied hard. Developing a great team spirit can only be achieved by sharing experiences and these can’t all come from time on the ocean, only 30% of the team were out there anyway! We all knew the rules even though they were never written down, party as much as you like but don’t miss the morning gym session and ensure your area of responsibility is under control. Undoubtedly the last 6 months have been some of the best times of my life, when I joined the team in June I didn’t really know any of them and now I feel like I’m leaving 30 life long friends behind. I fly back to the UK tomorrow ready to see all my friends and supporters back home and can’t help but reflect on how lucky I am, even though it is going to be desperately disappointing not to be leaving Singapore with the rest of the fleet. Maybe I will sign up for the real game and see if I can crack the top 1000 in the virtual skipper competition.

Anyway back to Leg 3, one of closest races in the history of the Volvo. It was a downwind start from Cochin and we so nearly nailed the pin end with a great timed run but unfortunately, the kite took ages to pop open (it is ‘wooled’ together into a sock to stop it flapping and potentially ripping on the way up) in the light breeze. It was fairly irrelevant in the course of the race anyway though, as we chose to hug the shoreline whilst the others choose lanes slightly further offshore. Showing great light air speed we kept pace with Telefonica Black and slowly eased away from Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd. The first night was all about the transition from sea breeze to land breeze and we played a great game which saw us pass Ericsson 4, Telefonica Black, Ericsson 3 and Puma but lose to Green Dragon who did well inshore. For the next 36 hours we match raced Ericsson 3 and were encouraged to keep them well astern but in the process lost out to the others who slowly but surely started to extend on us. By this time Delta Lloyd was well behind the rest of the fleet. As we crossed the Indian Ocean on our 1000 mile beat towards the Straits of Malacca, we encountered a range of conditions but mainly found ourselves hard on the breeze with frequent large squalls. I believe the biggest of which saw my watch well set one night, with one reef in the main and a medium sized jib up in around 18 knots, before we were hit by a 37 knot bullet and driving rain of such intensity you could not see more than a metre in front of you. Luckily we emerged unscathed and battled on but it was tough going. As the squalls passed and the wind dropped you were forced to re-stack all the kit before moving it back as the next squall approached, a mammoth effort all round!

Eventually Ericsson 3’s pure horse power saw them slip away from us and we had to be content with a solid lead over Delta Lloyd and Green Dragon just ahead. As we passed the scoring gate at the NW end of the straits in 7^th, the fleet started to bunch up. Ericsson 4 lost their lead and the front 4 converged, set to race ‘en masse’ to the finish with Telefonica Blue finally taking the win. We clawed our way up to Green Dragon and on the last night finally drew level only to be thwarted by the final transition between thermal breezes on the last night. We had a great blast to the finish with the code zero up and a fresh 20 knot northerly. The action wasn’t finished there however, as we hammered along at speeds of between 18 and 23 knots in the pitch black we encountered a dreaded fishing fleet…….. thankfully they were well lit, that is all but one who we think the guys were sleeping onboard. I saw it just at the very last minute, threw the helm over and we missed it by around 5 metres. In 10 seconds they were gone but my heart rate must have been up near the 200s. If we’d hit them, it would have been utter carnage, one fishing boat would have become two and I dread to think about the consequences for us. I was a mighty relieved man when the sun came up for the last time and we coasted into the Singapore Strait! We finished an hour after Green Dragon and around 9 hours from the leaders. This was a massive improvement on leg 2 and bearing in mind the cloud hanging over our futures for the whole leg, the team spirit was fantastic.

None of us know how things are going to work out now but it seems stupid that we have most of the key parts of the project in place such as the vast majority of the budget, a competitive boat and an ambitious crew, but can’t quite close the circle. I have become passionate about this campaign and so am not prepared to sit and do nothing. We need another 1.5 million euros to finish and I intend to chase down every opportunity to help keep it afloat. The boat is going to Cape Town to be ready to head across to Rio should we get money to restart there, or if not, then either Boston or Galway are options.

Thanks for all your support, it’s been awesome. Keep following the race and in return I will keep you posted with any developments from the inside!!

Happy New Year.

 Nick

Nick Bubb

It’s a sad day for Team Russia and watch captain Nick Bubb. Team Russia today announced it has suspended racing upon arrival in Singapore at the end of Leg 3 due to insufficient funds to continue the campaign.

The team has been seeking sponsorship in recent months to secure enough financial support to continue to Qingdao and beyond.

However no sponsorship has been forthcoming and the team has no alternative but to suspend racing until further financial support can be secured.

“From the outset, it was always a goal to bring commercial partners into the project,” said Oleg Zherebtsov, the Team principal. “Until now, I have financed the team with my own money, in advance of anticipated sponsorship funding.

“By this stage in the Volvo campaign we had intended to find sponsorship, but this process has been impacted by the global economic situation.”

Cessation of racing also means that Team Russia is unable to continue its partnership with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

The team was proud to “Sail For The Whale”, during the first three legs of the race and was instrumental in spreading the call for safe habitats for whales and dolphins around the globe.

WDCS is very proud to have been a part of this race and will continue to work for the creation of 12 large marine protection areas by the year 2012 and will find new ways to work with the international sailing community as well as the general public to achieve this goal.

 

Our new bowman for this leg Scott Gray is fitting in well as expected, although having lost one of our precious food bowls, he then proceeded to throw away a whole roll of loo paper. He may find himself short of a t-shirt or two should things get tight in that department later on. With a huge renewed focus amongst the crew, all idle chit chat is strictly restricted to off watch and this now focuses on the great debate, will we make it in for Christmas?! Personally I’m not feeling too confident but then again I don’t have flights booked home or family coming out so it’s not quite such a concern for me! Unfortunately my dog Shackleton couldn’t get a visa for Singapore in time!

Anyway, as usual I have a few small running repairs onboard to make so I’d better go. Thanks for all the messages of support via our team website (www.teamrussia.org), please keep them coming. Fingers and toes crossed as we try to reel the leaders back in, now 25 miles ahead.

Cheers, Nick

It’s taken me a while to find the enthusiasm to sit down and write this report. The end of leg two was undoubtedly one of the more depressing moments in my racing career so far……however thankfully there were some very good bits too! We had a fantastic start to the leg, heading into the south hammering along at well over thirty knots, occasionally ‘dismounting’ in spectacular fashion, getting battered down the deck by breaking surf and feeling that hugely addictive adrenalin rush as you got prepared for action down below before arriving on deck to face the elements. Passing the scoring gate in fourth was definitely the highlight of the race so far and we will certainly take heart from that as we look ahead.

David Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

In every respect this was a leg of contrasts, Southern Ocean in 40 knots, freezing temperatures and mountainous waves, to the Indian Ocean, a sleeping giant with warm gentle summer breezes most days, but the threat of hurricanes and pirates just around the corner. As we headed north into the Indian Ocean and lined up our Doldrums crossing, it became apparent that a viable option was to try to pass further to the east than the boats ahead. Well our big break to the east didn’t pay off… as any ocean sailor knows the Doldrums are an area where tactical skill must be mixed with good fortune to achieve success. What looked so promising at one point turned to disaster as we floundered around for five days and watched the rest of the fleet slip away from us. As we battled the elements, we managed a staggeringly poor 34 miles in one 24 hour period whilst battling a 2 knot equatorial current in an average windspeed of 2 knots. It seemed crazy to think that this very boat had been banging in 500 mile days earlier on. All this drifting around brought back memories of the HSBC Oryx Quest in 2005. We had raced non stop around the world, something like 25,000 miles in just over 60 days and were heading up the Indian Ocean to Qatar, when we fell into similar conditions. In the end it took us nearly 2 weeks to finish off the last 1000 miles. There is a reason why most yacht races don’t come up here……..

Mark Covell/Team Russia

I like to think that we weren’t late to Cochin, more the others were early! As we motored up to the dock after crossing the finish line in eighth, we were informed that our finish had coincided with the official race village opening night. As a result we were mobbed by literally thousands of Indians and in the end had to be protected by armed guards as we made our way up to the main stage; all a bit intimidating when you’ve just spent the best part of three weeks with only ten other people in your world!

After a few days in Cochin handing the boat over to the shore crew to carry out repairs and improvements, all the sailing crew then had a few days off and Beno and I once again ended up heading off on a short adventure. After our safari in Cape Town, we choose to continue the theme and caught a flight out to the tiny Island of Agatti, around 100 miles to the west of Cochin, for a long weekend of diving. This proved to be a great plan as we saw two metre long nurse sharks, stingrays, turtles and millions of multicoloured fish, all playing around the reef just 100 metres offshore. This coupled with the white sand beaches and hotel room under the palm trees were a pretty good way to forget leg 2 and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead!

We restart on Saturday the 13th with the major aim of getting to Singapore in time for Christmas….which could be a close run thing. Just under 2000 miles of potentially very light and tricky conditions and a route littered with fishermen, modern day pirates and all sorts of unusual hazards. Thankfully Kosatka is once again back in good shape and we were out sailing today, carrying out a few sail and system tests.

Anyway as usual, thanks for the encouraging messages, always great to hear from you all. Take care and if I don’t see you before, HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!! Wish us luck, hope you like the pics.
Cheers, Nick