| Mike's Blog : Day before InPort Race Friday 28th Oct 2011
Sitting here on the day before the first in-port race there are many thoughts racing through my head. It's hard for me to talk about in-port race one in The Volvo Ocean Race without having memories come flooding back to 2005 and the ABN AMRO campaign where after all the hype and expectation from the Bank as to what was expected from us, race one morning dawned with a forecast of sub 5 knots!!
Now we weren't 100% sure how quick we where going to be in a breeze, but we were pretty certain that we were really slow in the light. So way less then ideal... Anyway, our worst fear turned out to be reality, the two ABN AMRO boats were last and second to last, but wait - it gets worse!! ABN AMRO Two came second to last with our crew of younger dudes onboard from the bank's core nations and we, the full Pro team, were last!!.
The Netherlands being such a football/soccer crazy nation and knowing what goes on there with Captains and Managers, I wouldn't have been totally shocked if that had been my one and only race as the Skipper of ABN AMRO One!! So it was with some relief when, at an ABN AMRO conference which I was scheduled to speak at, I was Introduced as "The Skipper of ABN AMRO One!!!"....
What happened for the rest of the race is history, we went on to dominate the event, both Inshore and offshore, and one particular highlight for me was winning a light airs in-port race in front of our home crowd in Rotterdam!
So, sitting here the day before the first In-port race is in fact way less stressful for us then it probably is for anyone of the other five teams. If we do well then that is a huge bonus, if we come last ,well ... who knows...., fingers crossed we can be there, or thereabouts.
Talk soon
Mike |
