Ethan & Pat in Alicante for the Start of the Volvo

Ethan & Pat in Alicante for the Start of the Volvo

After a long journey from saint tropez, I finally arrived in Alicante and made my way to the Vestas wind base. There I met Aimee, the logistics manager and Bill, the shore manager as well as other personal on the vestas team. They promptly sent me down to the boat to begin work with the boat captain Diego.

Thought the boat was in good shape, there were details that needed to be tended to. Diego had to work right away cleaning the engine compartment and searching for leaks. Then the team showed up to prepare the boat for a practice session. While they were gone, there was still plenty to do in the shop container. The next day was race day, there were droves of people in the race village watching as boats prepared to dock out. I watched the racing from a crowded walkway overlooking the race course behind the team base. The racing was close with position changes on each leg and ultimately ended with a victory for mapfre. When the boat returned to the dock, there was lots to do. Sails came off and were put away, the rig was checked, and the boat was cleaned and covered. The next day, we finally got go sailing on the boat for the pro-am racing. Though not as intense as the day before, it was cool to be able to drive and trim this racing machine. The day after, Ethan and I went out with the team to do some sail testing. It was cool to be hands on and see how the boat works from the inside. From then on, it’s was more of tieing small loose ends together for race day. There was one instance when the docks started breaking apart and we had to anchor the boat off the seawall. beside that, everything seems to be running smoothly.

Oakcliff staff, Ethan Johnson, and Sapling Graduate, Patrick Murphy.