With the Transat Jacques Vabre just a week away, myself and my co-skipper for the race, Javier Sanso (Bubi), are now out on our qualification sail in the English Channel.
Mark Lloyd / Lloyd Images
I have known Bubi since my first Vendee Globe in 2000. Bubi was also racing in that event and we first met properly pre race, late one night on the dock in Les Sable d’Olonne during the gales just before the start of the race. Our genoa cover on Team Group 4 had completely ripped in the howling wind and was flying from our masthead like a 20m flag. Unfortunately this then wrapped around Bubi’s yachts mast. With both boat heeling and swaying on opposite sides of the dock in the 40/50kts wind and rain and this was a precarious situation for both teams. Bubi, very coolly ascended his mast in the midst of all the chaos and untangled the mess – never for a single moment looking in least bit phased or stressed. We have maintained good contact ever since, often meeting at one event or another and it’s great to welcome him aboard as my co skipper on “Mike Golding Yacht Racing” for the 2009 TJV.
We have been fortunate with the weather as we have clocked our qualification miles very quickly in the warm Southerly breeze that is keeping the UK so unseasonably mild this week. Last night we arrived off the Isles of Scilly, charging along at 18kts with our swish new reaching strut set with the genoa and full main. Today however, the wind has eased our speed to a relative crawl as we aim ourselves back towards our finish point for this trip and the start of the Transat in Le Havre, France.
Mark Lloyd / Lloyd Images
After a busy and, for me, very different 2009 sailing with the Ecover Extreme 40, which I have really enjoyed - it is still fantastic to back onboard the MGYR(Mike Golding Yacht Racing) IMOCA Open 60 at last. It has at times felt like our entry into this TJV in 2009 was not set to happen. Most obviously, as we have no sponsor for the boat, securing the funding to enable us to race was the first huge hurdle. Our company MGYR (Mike Golding Yact Racing Ltd) is, of course, seeking a new sponsor/s for the Open 60 Project up to and including the next Vendee Globe in 2012, which still remains my principle competitive goal but this is not so easy in current financial climes and although we are in some good and positive discussions, we have nothing to report so far. However in the end it was the continued support of my long time friend and partner in MGYR Ltd Jørgen Philip-Sørensen, without which we would certainly not have been able to race this year.
The boat, which for the purposes of the TJV will be called simply ‘Mike Golding Yacht Racing’, has had a major refit during 2009 following our dismasting in last year’s Vendee Globe and this race will be our first major outing this year. It is certainly a fairly serious way to test all the work that has taken place but it will at least ensure that the boat is fully ready for whatever her next challenge is. Still none of this has been easy and it was really only a few days ago when the last pieces of the technical puzzle slotted into place and we were absolutely sure that we would indeed be able to race the yacht this November.
The boat now feels tight and new, the remaining jobs list is minor and the team led by Harry McGougan has done a marvellous job of dealing with what has certainly been one of the most testing refits we have ever had over the years. Whilst neither Bubi, myself or the yacht have sailed much this year together I am quietly confident that between us all we will be able to acquit ourselves well in the race.
