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Heading into the wilderness

British skipper Ian Walker is no stranger to the dangers of the sea. He is now bracing to lead the Abu Dhabi team in the Volvo Ocean Race, the world’s most gruelling sport challenge, for the second consecutive time next year

One month at sea with no shower, minimal dry and frozen food supplies and not a shore in sight in case of emergency! Sailing in sub-zero degrees, through storms and icy winds on a boat designed for speed, not comfort, with no heating or plus 40 degrees with no air conditioning! Being in continuous motion, never dry and never on level ground for weeks at a time! Welcome to Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), the world’s most gruelling sport challenge. And welcome it is for Ian Walker, the British skipper who will lead the Abu Dhabi team into this eight-month-old race for the second consecutive time.

“I want to win it! This is a big thing for me! I did it twice before and came on fifth place both times. I can’t let the Volvo Ocean Race go! It consumes me... I have to win it!”

His voice was determined and his hand didn’t shake as he put down his cappuccino mug while expressing his desire to bring home the trophy.

Back in 2011, the then Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority announced that the UAE capital will become, for the first time in the race’s 38-year history, a stopover for the VOR’s six competing boats! Not just that, but a team was formed, with Walker as skipper and including an Emirati onboard — Adil Khalid. Azzam — the team’s 70 feet sailing boat — was built and the 11-strong sailors representing Abu Dhabi registered for the race in the nick of time! It finished the race on fifth place.

“For the 2014-2015 race, there will be some changes,” announced Walker.

“VOR is now building the same boat for all teams, a 65-feet one, which is smaller than last year’s 75-feet sailing yacht. It is, in fact, much like the boat we had!”

The new boats are designed in the US, built in Italy, assembled in England, have a French deck and Swiss structure. Being slightly smaller, their crew has been reduced too, from 11 members to nine — eight sailors and one media.

Since all yachts are made by VOR, the organisers are also taking over some of the maintenance and repairs responsibilities, also reducing the “land” crew of each team.

“The reason behind these changes was to reduce the costs and thus allow more crews to take part,” pointed out Walker.

The plan worked! Despite the early days, there are already four teams registered, including the Abu Dhabi one and an all women team for the first time since the 2001-02 race. Representing Sweden and sponsored by the global hygiene and forest company SCA, the team, which will sail with an international crew, was the first to announce an entry for what will be the 12^th edition of the race, starting from Alicante in the second half of 2014.

“We hope to launch our new boat and announce the full team this New Year,” said Walker.

His plan is to keep half the members from the previous Azzam team, but also bring some new blood in.

“If Adil would join us again, it would be a huge advantage, as he already knows the race, but in the same time, we need to give everybody a chance. I hope people will come forward and apply,” he added.

Walker, along with the team’s sponsor — the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority — are looking not only for onboard sailors, but also for a three to four members on shore support crew.

“Last race we had Butti Al Muhairi on the shore team and I hope he will join us again in 2014!”

As soon as the new team is formed, Walker will start training, both here and over in 14 degrees Portuguese waters, “the windiest place in Europe”!

“This year we have the advantage of all teams having the same boat and signing in early, so we have plenty of time to train,” he mentioned.

A series of misfortunes and lack of training is what brought the Abu Dhabi team to the fifth place in the 2011-2012 race.

“Previously, we spent a lot of time changing and optimising the boat to go faster. Plus, we broke the mast.” Azzam’s mast broke in three pieces when landing from a big wave only five hours beyond the official start of the 2011 race. The worst moment, though, was in the Southern ocean, between Brazil and Chilli, when a serious damage, requiring drilling, meant the boat had to be sunk on one size.

“We were 1,700 miles from land and the nearest boat that could rescue us was 1,000 miles away,” remembers Walker.

“We had to tilt the boat to carry out repairs in the bottom, which took six hours!”

Another “omg” moment, of a different kind, was the desalination unit stopped working. Due to capacity restraints, VOR boats cannot carry the amount of fresh water needed for the crew, so they have a desalination machine instead that works with a fuel-powered battery.

“It did happen once that the battery stopped working. We had to hand pump the water, but it takes about an hour to produce one litre of water,” he said!

Hopefully, this will not happen during the next VOR, which will witness the longest leg in the race’s history, from Recife in Brazil to Abu Dhabi! The 9,700 miles leg will take between 30-35 days to complete, if all goes well.

“We will have no shower and no fresh food for a month,” smiled Walker.

“The first thing I’ll do when stepping on Abu Dhabi soil will probably get a steak sandwich!”

This leg will be the second in the race, which will start in Alicante, Spain on October 4, 2014, followed by Recife, then Abu Dhabi over Christmas and New Year, Sanya (China) and then Auckland (New Zeeland) before rounding Cape Horn on the way to Itajaí, the second stop in Brazil. The next port will be Newport, Rhode Island — a first stop for the race in America’s spiritual home of sailing — before returning across the Atlantic to Lisbon, on to Lorient (France) and finally the finish line on June 27, 2015, in Gothenburg, the Swedish home of Volvo. The total course distance will be 39,895 nautical miles — the equivalent of 45,910 miles or 73,886 kilometres.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com