News Around the World
Tough slog… It’s inevitable that all the glossy pictures from the Sydney Hobart concentrate on the glamour pusses at the front, but like every classic ocean race it is an ‘Everest’ event for many on the smaller boats, resulting in a cross-section of entries similar to the Fastnet – but on a smaller scale. Shane Kearns’ S&S 34 Komatsu Azzurro (above) is a sistership to the S&S 34 Morning Cloud on which soon to be British Prime Minister Edward Heath won the 1969 race overall. Komatsu finished a very honourable 8th in Class 4
Coming from an athletics background in triathlons – including
representing New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games – Scott also ran a business centred on fitness training and coaching for extreme challenges like Cook Strait swims and double iron man contests. The Tasman challenge evolved because ‘I got sick of talking and coaching others and wanted to get out and do something myself.’ There is also an inspirational and charitable aspect to his mission.
An asthmatic, he has partnered with Asthma New Zealand to raise awareness and has brought a number of fellow sufferers into his team. ‘I have had asthma since childhood – and now my son suffers as well. I am living proof of what you can do.’ Asthma and the huge effort involved in paddling a kayak across
an ocean would not immediately spring to mind as an ideal combination. ‘Actually, the sea air, without pollen, is pretty good. I get very few attacks out there.’ Well, in a challenge where the ‘too hard basket’ is overflowing,
it is nice to know something is working in Scott’s favour. As he goes about his preparations with quiet confidence there is no doubting the courage of his convictions. He surely also deserves all the help he can get. Ivor Wilkins
AUSTRALIA Getting the rust off After skippering Vestas in the previous Volvo race at the last moment Chris Nicholson joined the team on AkzoNobel Chris Nicholson: As most people now know, by the time I became involved this team had had a few upheavals... Being away from it all on the sidelines I thought I’d just do some
legs on different programmes this time. Then the opportunity came up, I think at the right time for me, to help get this project moving again with some stability. I knew most of the people onboard, I wanted to sail again with Nicolai [Sehested] and Brad [Jackson] so it was a good fit. To actually miss all the pre-start running around and months of preparation – that was quite appealing too! SH: What sort of contribution could you make straight away? CN: I was fresh and that is good and bad. That first night helming
24 SEAHORSE
out of Lisbon in 30kt I had to get the rust off my game quite quickly. I was fresh and so had a different take on things, but I have to be careful as the team has sailed quite a few miles and has developed clear sail crossovers and clear ways to sail the boat. But I like to look at things with a very open mind in terms of how the boat should be sailed – I hope I’m never set in stone how things should be done. It has been an interesting time… SH: How have your crew grown – particularly Emily Nagel and Martine Grael? CN: That in some ways is similar to the last question, and that is one reason I would have liked to have been with the project three or four months beforehand, where you work with the younger crew and develop them. They are obviously an asset, and I have seen a massive improve-
ment in both of them in a small amount of time. You are hardly ever telling them what to do, you are giving them subtle suggestions. You know they are great sailors in their own right so it’s about helping them cut some corners in the learning… so as not to make the mistakes that I made early on as a Volvo sailor. SH: How are the boat, rig and sails, particularly the sail management and care which was a critical element to Ian Walker’s success in the last VOR? CN: Sail care and preservation have been high on the list, but it is interesting because we don’t have the results we want at this stage. So it is still important, but now we may risk more wear and tear on the sails to get a better result. The sails are pretty robust, and we won’t do silly sail changes to flog them too hard – we slow the boat up, do the change and look after them. SH: Simeon [Tienpont] chose to have a new boat and new rig. What have you learnt about the track coming off the mast? CN: I think most of the boats went with new rigs. I haven’t had direct correspondence with Southern Spars about that but it was a pretty hard gybe on the equipment! That said, I would expect a lot of things to break before the track
comes off the mast – we can break a lot of stuff which has a pretty short fix-time, that is like having fuses in place that blow first. We have done all the tests on the mast now so it’s time to put it to the
w
STEFANO GATTINI
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