VOR: PUMA - What's a Shore Base?

Chris Hill. Image copyright Sally Collison/PUMA Ocean Racing.

by Chris Hill (boatbuilder, PUMA Ocean Racing)

30 odd years ago, when the Volvo Ocean Race was the Whitbread Round the World Race, there were no shore teams. There was no one on-call 24 hours a day and the sailors carried the spares they needed onboard, doing most of the maintenance and repairs themselves. These days thing have changed a little....

PUMA Ocean Racing has a shore team that outnumbers the crew sailing the boat by almost 2:1, plus two sets of five 40 ft shipping containers that leapfrog from port to port ahead of the boat. These containers make up our workshop, sail loft, offices and storage for the duration off each stopover. The containers also carry all of the vital spare parts, tools and supplies which we need to repair and maintain the boat.

They have everything to fix anything from mechanical problems to damaged paint work to full on structural repairs. We have to perform all the repairs using only what we carry with us or what we can find locally. This can present quite a few challenges given that just about everything we use is custom-made or very hard to find. Try going down to the local hardware or chandlery and asking for some M12 countersunk allen head titanium bolts, some carbon fiber cloth and some structural rubber toughened epoxy resin. Then try to explain that you need them in 48 hours when sometimes you have trouble even finding someone who speaks English!!!

Most of shore team arrives in port around three days before the boat is due to arrive, with the containers already unloaded and positioned to form the walls of the shore base. Our team goes to work unloading everything from the containers to erecting the tents between the containers (which are the sail loft and boatbuilding workshop). Once the tents are just about done everyone starts to branch off into their own respective areas. With Stockholm being the last stopover of the race, we have already done this whole process ten times before and everyone knows their role.

The sail makers Scoob, Tom and Matt, with help from the team physio Santi, build the sail loft floor and get their sewing machines up and running. The riggers Wilbur and Frano set up their rigging workshop, make sure all the tents are finished off and secured (we have seen 50 knot winds and heavy rain during some of the stopovers!) Tara and Sandy who look after the logistics for the team set up their office in the container which is used to transport our RIB (chase boat). Boat builders Ties, Spider, Mark and I set up our workshop and build the cradle which will hold the boat while it is out of the water being worked on. Jess and Fiona, the team chefs, set up their kitchen in a rented 20 ft container. Nick the nipper and RIB driver launches the RIB. He and Coxy (Neil Cox) the shore team manager will check the depth of the water at the dock and anywhere the boat might end up while entering and leaving the dock area.

Some of the fleet has had problems running aground during previous stopovers and that would be a problem that we don't need. Sean and Mark, the electrician and mechanic, connect power to the base and also shore power at the dock and at the cradle for the boat when it arrives and make sure the chefs have running water and drainage in the kitchen. By this stage things are starting to look finished and anyone who has already completed their own jobs jumps in to help others. Apart from a bit of tidying up and making sure everything is in its place the shore base is then finished. If we have a bit of time up our sleeves we may start preparing anything we can to fix any damage the sailing team has told us about before they arrive. If we are lucky, maybe we'll one last day off to rest and check out the local area before the boat arrives and its game on!

PUMA Ocean Racing
Volvo Ocean Race