The action starts tomorrow

Camper in the Volvo Ocean Race

Today was a little taster of things to come from the Volvo Ocean Race as the fleet lined up on the waters off Alicante for the practice race ahead of tomorrow’s In Port race. The six strong fleet headed out with media onboard in a short tussle close to shore.

Weeks and months of planning have led up to this moment. Boat handling was key for all the teams on the water today as they dealt with the windshifts and challenges of the short course in Alicante. For CAMPER it was a good race, a late start off the line saw a quick recovery as they took control of the race, and then led the fleet home. “We had a fair bit of good fortune out there, on the plus side we had some good crew manoeuvres and our boat handling was good. We have been saying for a while that we feel like we’re in good shape. It’s good to get down to the business end of things. With just a week left here in Alicante, we’re looking forward to getting through the In Port and to get started on leg one”

How much can we read into this? It’s hard to tell, but CAMPER are pleased with the performance today and they will be concentrating on a good result tomorrow. When asked in the press conference about the choice of sails for the race Nicholson commented, “It was a good choice but it was also some good fortune as well. We always had the genoa up and also the masthead ready to go so we were happy to do the manoeuvres pre-start with the smaller jib and then go to the larger one, it just so happened that the breeze came in at that particular time and that was our opportunity. So yeah, a bit of luck.”

For the team it has been a long build up, and the crew are keen to get the race started, but after the In Port tomorrow just a week remains as they switch from ‘in port’ mode to ‘offshore mode’. “I’ve certainly had a lot of trouble in the last 18 months switching off from this event. But like Ian (Walker) said, our preparation has been quite similar to Abu Dhabi’s. We will hopefully have one day off but then we have to switch our mindset from this tight racing and all the weather and the studies we’ve done here in Alicante to the broader picture from here to Cape Town. So we have several days planning for that and then one or two days of sailing. But it is important that we take a step back and enjoy it as well.”