Charlie and Mark’s Team Alvimedica have a nice buffer for the Hague restart to the final leg of the 2015 Volvo Ocean Race, which means the live coverage is unlikely to be all that interesting, especially if the VOR production team continues to rely on piss-poor phone-call-level sound and the thick Norwegian accent of Knut Frostad (what’s up with that?). But Mark Covell’s back on the microphone and the atmosphere on the ground is electric, with spectators coming out in massive numbers to support Brunel and Bouwe and the kind of racing that fits the steel-headed Dutch mentality to a T.
Mr. Clean got some local flavor during a quick check-in with the Lemster aak (bilge-board racing barges) fleet just before the VO 65s got in the other day, a prelude to hours of Sailing Anarchy live and video coverage from he and Petey Crawford over the next week from Sweden, including a full hour of live chat with ADOR’s Ian Walker and Jamie Boag, the guys behind three long campaigns that finally resulted in the long-cherished VOR win. In the meantime, enjoy Genny and friends from the studio and the water.
INJURY UPDATE: The French site 20 Minutes writes that the woman injured in the horrific accident between a VOR Lorient marshal RIB and the maxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 has indeed had her leg amputated. She lost a tremendous amount of blood, but thanks to emergency services, is apparently stable. The Spindrift team have suspended training and pulled out of the GC32 Cowes Cup ‘out of respect for the victim and those close to her’. It brings the GC32 Cowes fleet back down to 5, marking yet another bit of bad luck for a Class that just can’t seem to escape it – though they are being considered as one option for the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series fleet, so there’s that.
