It was a dream job for me and I can still remember the excitement I felt on my first day as I sat down at my desk, right outside the glass-fronted race control room, from where the competing yachts were monitored around-the-clock during racing.
That high tech room looked for all the world like a modified version of the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. It was hallowed ground and the glass door remained locked to all but the race’s senior management – the likes of CEO Knut Frostad, race director Jack Lloyd (RIP), and race control director and meteorologist Gonzalo Infante. Only occasionally would mere mortals like myself be allowed inside.
Saturday November 5, 2011 – the first evening of the 2011-12 race – will live in my mind forever. There’s a tradition amongst those left behind when the crews set off on the beginning of a leg. It’s known as the ‘Thank God They’re Gone Party’ and it’s a chance for the shore-based members of the teams and the race organisation to let their hair down a bit after the typically intense workload leading up to a leg start.
I was supposed to have clocked off about an hour earlier but for some inexplicable reason I was reluctant to leave the office and had hung around watching the race tracker as the six Volvo 70s power reached their way across the Mediterranean on their way to Cape Town, South Africa. Conditions out there were atypical of what people might imagine for the Med – the wind was gusting up to 42 knots and the wave height was around 10 metres. All in all a baptism of fire for the crews on the first night of a 39,270 nautical-mile circumnavigation. I was nervous for the sailors – but I didn’t expect what happened next.
Just as I was about to close up my laptop, slip it into my race-issued backpack, and head off to the party which was already underway at a well-known bar in the city, the word came in that Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had been dismasted. The news came as a major shock, but the entire race organisation had received extensive crisis management training, and I’m proud to say there was no panic or confusion in the office. The crisis management team – made up of senior level people from across the organisation – was quickly assembled and a plan was formulated on how to deal with the situation.
Happily, there had been no injuries aboard the Abu Dhabi yacht Azzam when the mast came down and the crew were working on clearing the debris with a plan to return to Alicante under their own steam. Race control had good communications with the boat and were confident that the situation was under control. My role in the communications team was to draft a short factual statement about the incident, briefly explaining what had happened and confirming that there had been no fatalities or injuries amongst the crew. Meanwhile we were informed that the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing management team was in contact with the sailors’ families to reassure them that they were safe.
As soon as it was signed off by the Abu Dhabi management, the initial statement went out on the race website and social media channels, and in a news alert to the global media. Next up for me to work on was a longer story giving more detail about what had happened. By this point we had begun to receive quotes from Azzam skipper Ian Walker, who had been steering when the mast broke.
“I was steering and we just came off a big wave,” Walker had said. “I know it’s a big wave when my feet leave the ground. You always have your heart in your mouth when that happens. When we landed the mast just kept going. We immediately numbered off which is our safety drill to make sure we haven’t lost anyone over the side. Then we set about trying to retrieve whatever we could.”
It was graphic stuff and I have to confess that my heart was in my mouth too as I wrote the follow up story that would be beamed around the world.
Many hours later and with the Abu Dhabi crew now declared safe, albeit facing a miserable motor in tortuous conditions back to Alicante, things began to settle down in race headquarters. The adrenalin rush that had helped us work through the night had subsided and I was looking forward to the short cycle back to my apartment to help clear my head before a few hours of shut eye.
That was not to be, however, as at around 0800 – still less than 24 hours after the start – Mike Sanderson’s Chinese-flagged entry Team Sanya also reported major problems and the crisis management team was hastily reconvened.
This time the issue was a badly delaminated bow section caused by the relentless pounding from the massive waves overnight. Sanderson’s crew had already closed the yacht’s watertight doors as a precaution due to the prevailing conditions – some smart thinking that likely prevented the boat from sinking.
After realising that the bow section was filling with water the crew headed for shelter closer to shore, where, in flatter water, they were able to make a better assessment of the extent of the damage. Shortly afterwards the team announced it was out of the first leg and headed to Puerto de Motril where the boat was immediately craned out of the water.
With major repair work – essentially the grafting in of a new bow section – necessary to get Team Sanya racing again, the boat was shipped to Cape Town where it rejoined the race. Ian Walker’s men on Azzam arrived back in Alicante the following day to await the arrival of the team’s spare mast which was en route from Valencia – reportedly with a special dispensation from the King of Spain to allow the Convoi Exceptionnel on the roads on a Sunday.
Abu Dhabi eventually set off again three days later, but as they reached Gibraltar with still no firm confirmation of what had caused the first mast to fail, Walker made the agonising decision not to turn south towards Cape Town, but to head north towards Lisbon, Portugal where the boat was loaded on a ship to South Africa.
In hindsight this was probably a smart move, as a week or so later, Ken Read’s Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg – using the same mast and rigging as Azzam – was dismasted in the southern Atlantic, about 2,150 nautical miles from Cape Town. The American-flagged boat had to head for the remote island of Tristan da Cunha where they had an extended stay while they waited for a ship to come to pick up the boat.
I must admit I didn’t expect three such major incidents in the opening leg of the race. But that first leg was a good training ground for me for what lay ahead in that edition, which included:
- The entire fleet being put on a ship during the two Indian Ocean legs to and from Abu Dhabi for fear of attack from Somali pirates
- Only Puma finishing the Southern Ocean Leg 5 without being forced to make a pit stop to repair serious damage, after:
- Team Sanya turned back to Auckland after breaking a rudder stock early in the leg
- Iker Martinez’s Spanish entry Team Telefónica had to stop for bow repairs at the Argentine port of Ushuaia
- Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand suspended racing before motoring 180 nautical miles up a fjord to Puerto Montt in ChileFranck
- Cammas’ Groupama 4 were dismasted while leading after Cape Horn and had to pull into to Punta del Este, Uruguay
The sailors say that The Ocean Race gets into your blood and keeps you coming back for more, time after time. I definitely get what they mean.
I was lucky enough to work the 2011-12 alongside my then wife to be – she was one of the chosen few in race control where she managed the communication with the onboard reporters – and we did two more laps of the world. During the 2014-15 edition (after just getting married) we worked for Ian Walker’s second – and this time victorious – Abu Dhabi campaign. Then, in the 2017-18 edition, I worked for Simeon Tienpont’s team AkzoNobel, while my wife managed the race’s VIP guests.
All three were unforgettable experiences and, although we didn’t work on the 2022-23 edition, you better believe we are eying up the 2027 race with keen interest.
Get all areas access to Yacht Racing Life with a Full Membership free 30-day trial. There's no obligation and you can cancel at anytime.
