Clean Report
We’ve got far too many videos from my ten-day stop in Cape Town to put them all up here, but despite the fact that they’re all shaky ‘Clean Cam’ clips, the interviews finally get you sailors what you really want: In-depth discussions of what’s working and what’s not, what’s fast and what’s not, and what their real problems and advantages are. So enjoy, and be sure to head over to our Youtube playlist for the stopover, don’t forget there are a few more (including an exceptional chat with VOR sail loft manager Nathan Quirk) over on Facebook, and of course you all owe it to yourselves to catch up with the latest and greatest on the Leg 2 thread, though you might want to skip to Page 6…
The Big Show
Mark Covell and play-by-play guy Niall Myant have started feeling their oats in the broadcast booth and I’ll be taking over Knut’s spot on the chase boat along with the incredible Skip Novak for color, but here’s what you really want to know: It will be BLOWING DOGS OFF CHAINS. In fact, it already is. In double fact, it hasn’t stopped since I got off the plane.
Please stay tuned for the team-by-team form guide that’s on its way to you as soon as I can get off the water, and keep your eyes out for the (far too lengthy) analysis of pretty much everything you could want to know about the VOR; 30 hours of air travel on Friday should be just enough time to finish that one. Live Stream begins at 1750 local time/1550 UTC/1050 EST/0750 PST, and we’ll be online for at least an hour; longer if the near-gale conditions and possibly huge seas will allow. I can guarantee you one thing: It’s gonna be a hoot. We’ll change this link to the replay when it’s available, usually a few hours after the end of the broadcast.
The Crush Goes On
Team SCA Skipper Sam Davies may be a couple of years older than the last time she enthralled me with her brains and skills, but she’s still as open and interesting as ever to chat with.
Pit Boss
At 37 years old, Nick Bice has spent the better part of his adult life on the Volvo, first as a racer and then as a shore manager. Now he’s running the Boatyard, perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle in the Volvo’s quest for sustainability. This is an awesome 18 minutes with one of the most charismatic dudes in the game. Enjoy it.
Race Boss
Grizzled ocean racing and race admin vet Jack Lloyd has already lost part of a finger to this race, but he’s not about to lose any of his teams to pirates. We get the full story on how the Exclusion Zones work, what military support is available to the fleet, and much more in yet another good chat with yet another guy boiling over with character.
Language Gap
With Iker Martinez heading off to deal with business back home, the French press was left to sort out what happened during MAPFRE’s first-leg implosion. We grabbed Iker in a romantic spot to get the real deal from him, and as usual, he was an open book. Find out whether Iker and Mich Dej came to blows on the run down the African Coast (spoiler alert- they didn’t).
