Ian Walker in Rio. Image copyright Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Ian Walker (interviewed by Riath Al-Samarrai)
Well, we're about to go off again.
I feel more ready than I thought I would. I spent a couple of days away with my family about an hour or two south of here, had a nice little break. I'm sick of eating, though. I've been doing nothing but eat to put as much weight back on as I can.
It really is an exhausting race. When I started I was 82 kilos and I had a big set-back because I picked up Giardia, a parasite, in India. I didn't realise until I was about three weeks into the Singapore stopover and I lost a lot of weight on leg 3. In China I got a back to 78 kilos but fell back to 71 on the last leg. Now I'm just eating and eating and I think I'm back to 75 or so.
I don't feel as strong as I was. Performance in that respect must decline and you can see it in boat handling, hoisting sails and that. I think that's why you will increasingly see a strategy of crew replacement as you go along. We have rested people and given a choice it's something I would do more in the next race.
The tiredness of the whole thing just washes over you when you stop. I can't be great company when we get in, I must admit. You just get in and sleep. When I got here I found it hard to sleep initially because you are stuck in your watch system. I was waking up every three or four hours for the first five nights that I was here. Now I am finding the opposite as I can't get out of bed in the morning!
The race is looking interesting. Ericsson 4 can still lose, but I think they would have to throw it away. I haven't looked at the points that closely, but I think Ericsson 3 is the only team that has the pace to live with them. I think Telefonica are fast in the light and upwind, but they don't seem to have the consistency in power reaching, which is an area where Ericsson 4 are very good. PUMA seem to have bursts of speed without being able to sustain it. But without being on those boats it's pretty hard to know why.
As for us, leg five went much better than one might have thought. After four or five days we were over 200 miles behind, but then we were closer by Cape Horn. In actual fact, for four or five of the six weeks we were still in the race, which was great for us. It was just the last 10 days that were difficult.
We have to assess our performance against our original goals. We wanted to get in the top three and we wanted to get in amongst it whenever we could. We have done that at times but not as consistently as we would have liked. Having said that, certain things we have done very well. Our boat handling has been good and strategically we have sailed well on the whole. We are also one of only four boats that has raced and finished every leg and in-port race, which is no small achievement and without assistance which speaks volumes for the shore crew. Financially, and as an organisation, we have done well to get to where we are. I think the race needs people like us, we have added some colour and we have put our mark on the results at times.
We are still striving for the podium. A few things haven't gone our way, but anything can happen in this race and for that reason nothing is unobtainable. It is frustrating not getting the results you always want, but this is, on the whole, a great experience. I love the concept of sailing around the world, the sense of achievement, the people, the places. I'm certainly glad that I'm involved and I would hope to be again.
Volvo Ocean Race
No comments:
Post a Comment