Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) shore crew chief, Neil Cox, breathed a huge sigh of relief as his boat was successfully returned to the water this weekend for its first sail since grounding on a reef in the Indian Ocean back in November (full story below).<\/p>\n
– Vestas Wind comes through first sail test with flying colours<\/p>\n
– ‘It\u2019s time to look forward, not back,’ says shore chief Cox<\/p>\n
– See how the stricken boat was put together again<\/p>\n
LISBON, Portugal, May 31 \u2013 Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) shore crew chief, Neil Cox, breathed a huge sigh of relief as his boat was successfully returned to the water this weekend for its first sail since grounding on a reef in the Indian Ocean back in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no longer a boat-building race,\u201d he said, sporting the biggest smile in Lisbon. \u201cWe\u2019re back in a boat race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The battle to return Vestas Wind to the Volvo Ocean Race has been one of the most absorbing stories of the entire nine-month marathon event \u2013 and one of the most remarkable in its 41-year history.<\/p>\n
After crashing on to a reef near the Cargados Carajos Shoals on November 29 during Leg 2 and damaging huge sections of the hull, many observers expected the team to call quits there and then on the campaign.<\/p>\n
But the Danish-based, global wind energy \u00a0company Vestas, and their backers including Powerhouse, were determined to salvage what they could and then set a highly ambitious target of returning to offshore sailing\u2019s most prestigious event for Legs 8 and 9.<\/p>\n
That involved two huge hurdles: recovering the boat as intact as possible from the reef where it grounded, and rebuilding the shattered Volvo Ocean 65 in four months, half the time it normally takes to construct the one-design vessel.<\/p>\n
Part one of \u2018Mission Nearly Impossible\u2019 was successfully completed when the Vestas Wind made a moonlit arrival in the Portuguese capital midweek.<\/p>\n
Part two was the boat\u2019s first sail from Lisbon to Cascais and back, on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Sure, it had been rebuilt according to the exacting one-design standards demanded by the Race, but would any problems show up once it started sailing?<\/p>\n
Cox, skipper Chris Nicholson, and the rest of the Team Vestas Wind crew had the answer they wanted in the kind of testing conditions they will face during Leg 8 from Lisbon to Lorient, France: 25 knots of breeze with the boat\u2019s canting keel bulb almost lifted out of the water.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, Australian Cox was delighted to see how the boat had fared.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Friday, getting the boat in the water was a huge thing in the sense that it was a milestone,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I knew that we still hadn\u2019t been sailing \u2013 all we had was a boat in the water. Now, we needed to sail it. The nervousness and anticipation around being fit for purpose focused on today (Saturday).<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have a work list that\u2019s all about going forward \u2013 not backwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly been the hardest thing I\u2019ve had to do. It\u2019s a collective effort, no one person could have done it. On a personal level, I\u2019d say it\u2019s the biggest challenge I\u2019ve had to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cox and the rest of the team have paid fulsome tribute to the workers of the Italian boatyard of Persico, who toiled night and day to return the Vestas Wind to join the other six boats on the Lisbon start line.<\/p>\n
Next Saturday (June 6), Team Vestas Wind will join the competition once more with the Lisbon In-Port Race, before taking on the 647-nautical mile Leg 8 to Lorient the following day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night of June 7 when the guys go offshore will be quite a moment,\u201d grinned Cox, with typical Aussie under-statement.<\/p>\n
via \u2018We\u2019re back in a boat race\u2019 | Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) shore crew chief, Neil Cox, breathed a huge sigh of relief as his boat was successfully returned to the water this weekend for its first sail since grounding on a reef in the Indian Ocean … Continue reading