For the guys in the shore team, who are working day and night to get the boat ready for the start, it was strange to leave our comfort zone of the shore base in Newport, Rhode Island, which had been our home for six months. There we had everything we could ever need to solve any problem, but here in Spain, we have much less at our disposal, yet we have the urgent need to work harder than ever to get the boat into measurement trim. You always worry about what you may have forgotten, how prepared we all are and whether the boat is ready. It's also pretty hard to get things sorted when you have to try to explain things to a machinist who speaks twice as much English as the five or six words of Spanish that I know. Not a lot of technical hand-over in those conversations!
The Volvo 70 rule is the rule that all teams have to adhere to when they build their boat, to ensure the boat is allowed to compete in this race. In some parts of the boat design, there may be room for different interpretation and in other cases things are very black and white. Once all the boats have assembled here in Alicante prior to the start, the Volvo Race Management Group have to measure in each of the boats, to make sure they fit the rules. So far things have been moving along well for us and we have managed get the bulk of our Volvo 70 requirements for the hull, mast and systems signed off, with just a few smaller ones still to complete.
The work hours have never been short since the day the boat left the shed five months ago, but even by those standards the hours the whole shore crew are currently putting in just don't compare. Since the minute the boat arrived in Alicante it's been a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with a work week average of about 95 hours. Even with this being the case all of the team have stepped up and taken on more work just to help get through the measurement process as well as we can. The whole team really deserves an enormous amount of credit for where we stand in our preparation leading up to the start of the race. You really can't thank them enough.
I think the entire shore crew and sailing team have gelled enormously since being here in Alicante. Working together and for the first time really getting to see first hand, the results of our efforts over the past twelve or so months, is a great feeling.
All things considered, we plan to have il mostro in the best possible condition for the first of the In Port races this weekend, and then for the beginning of the first offshore leg to Cape Town which starts on Saturday 11th October. That's when the next lot of the 'unknown' begins and again we will have a lot to get through to get il mostro back into the water in the best possible condition to continue on.
- Neil Cox
Boat Photo: Nick Dana/PUMA Ocean Racing
Neil Cox Photo: Sally Collsion/PUMA Ocean Racing
