| Everything but the Volvo |
| Thursday, 09 December 2004 |
From the Mini-transat to the might of Cheyenne, the mega catamaran, and a lot of success in the Open 60 class in between, Brian Thompson is a vastly experienced and successful offshore racer. He is a huge figure in the world of offshore racing with more multi-hull sailing miles under his belt than any other Briton today.
Bangthecorner.com talked to Brian about the one race that has eluded him so far: The Volvo Ocean Race:
“I’ve always followed the great race and have been a big fan since the very first edition. In 1985 I tried pretty hard to get on a boat, hanging around in Bursledon on the Hamble River to get on one of the top maxis. I guess at that time I didn’t have the experience, although I was offered a place on the Swan 55, Shadow of Switzerland. In retrospect I wish I had taken that ride as so many of the crews changed in Cape Town, I probably would have managed to get on one of the maxi boats for the rest of the race.
Since then I’ve done a lot of different sailing but I’ve continued to follow the story of each Volvo Ocean Race. One race that stands out in particular was the incredible clean sweep by Steinlager 2 in 1989, when whatever the situation Blake and his team managed to work their way to the front. Also the most amazing visual image was from the same race with Steinlager II and Fisher & Paykel surfing nose to tail in the Southern Ocean.
More recently, I got a big rush watching Tokio, the first generation VO60, storming down the English Channel and through the Solent at incredible speed.
Grant Dalton is, in my opinion, is the best professional offshore sailor in the world of fully crewed events. I admire him not only for his Volvo Ocean Race success, but also for his move into the multihull world for The Race, where he put together a superb programme and showed everyone else how it’s done.“
Brian believes that strong leadership is an invaluable contribution to any racing project.
“A successful campaign relies heavily on boat and crew preparation as well as crew ability, and you need inherent boat speed and excellent sail design. Put that together with top quality navigation, tactics and team spirit and you have a winning combination. When all these click into place, the whole project becomes exciting and enjoyable; you start to get a sense of accomplishment you develop a warm relationship with the other members of the team. A good spirit causes a sense of humour; it is great when things are going to plan unlike the obedience training of my Jack Russell terrier!”
So what in Brian Thompson’s opinion, makes a good helmsman?
As a helmsman you need concentration and focus, the ability to stay locked onto the apparent wind and to simultaneously read the waves.
You have to be confident to call boat trim for optimum speed, balance and safety; keeping the boat smooth, never letting her slow down.
You have to understand the navigational and tactical requirements and make boat trim choices to fulfil them whilst being aware at all times of the boat’s limits and the safety of the crew working on deck and aloft.”
If you were given the opportunity of competing in the next Volvo Ocean Race what would influence your decision?
“Apart from all wanting to do the Volvo Ocean Race since I was a kid, this time around the boats are going to be more exciting and demanding to sail than ever before. The average speeds are going to be near to multi-hull speeds, especially in the Southern Ocean. At 30 knots life gets more intense!
The closeness of the racing is going to be a big attraction and the fleet is going to big enough to have close action all around the course. The points system I like, it keeps the game open for longer. So there’s a lot of motivation to get involved there.
If I was ever given the opportunity to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race the decision would start with the people as always. I would want a team that I would enjoy working with seven days a week (and 24 hours of the day when you are training or racing). I would want to come out of it with both the best result possible and some friendships.
The leader, the sponsor and the entire team should have the right attitude and would put everything into winning, but still be enthusiastic enough about the sailing, the sport and the adventure to pass that on to the public.
This time with a new boat, and new format it’s going to be a big learning curve for everybody, and I would hope to be able to learn from the rest of the team; about sailing, navigation, tactics boat design, sail design - everything, So to sail with that level of talent and knowledge would be important. I would hope that the team would be receptive to my experience of shorthanded racing and of multihulls, - these new boats are much faster and less crewed than ever before.
Of course, it would be great to sail on the fastest boat, but you can never know that until half way around the world. As long as the team works well together and constantly strives to go faster, that’s all that I could expect. I would just want to make as much of a contribution as I could, whether that’s in steering the boat or guiding it in the right direction on the race course.”
www.bangthecorner.com
www.volvooceanrace.org
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