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| The entrance to the river...bumpy! |
Feeling like a Hollywood movie star as I waltzed along the glittering floor of the duty free perfume department, I spent my first euros on a bottle of water and an EU plug. Boarding the plane, I began to dream of ice-cream, water snakes and babbling Italians, lolling by the banks of the famous Italian lakes...
By 10am I hand landed in Fiumicino, managing to book a taxi to the Yacht Club through some extravagant gestures and use of my detailed 'road book'. Straight away Graziella, the club secretary, took my under her wing...I had a shot of coffee, met some Mini sailors, took a trip to the local supermarket and even got a lift to the Hotel! What wonderful hospitality.
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| Nikki pre-start |
Phil and Nikki weren't to arrive with the boat until 11pm that evening, so I spent the afternoon trying to find somewhere to buy a camping stove, checking out the local food shops and planning where the boat could go on arrival. Once that was done, there was no excuse but to gaze admirady at the young itallian men out kitesurfing, taking a blustery walk along the beach front. After that it was time for a nap, and dinner (a giant apple, 'rusk' and chocolate spread); before strolling off into the night, battling through a pack of wild dogs, to meet Phil and Nikki at the Club.
The next morning we could get on with putting the boat together- taking off elastic, straps and untying the bobstay (which had got into a massive knot after the road trip), we were soon ready for the mast to be lifted in. With just Nikki, Sergio and I we soon had it up, and realized we would have to get used to the 'Italian way' of doing things. Big, brown waves were surging into the river entrance; with just 2 metres in the marina, it wouldn't be until monday afternoon that the boat was lifted in and driven onto the dock.
As the week progressed more boats and sailors began to arrive, with us finding ourselves in 'Wild West', a steak house (having had another unsuccessful trip to find a stove), with Ludovick and Jefferey, both owners of Prototypes. The next few days were occupied with sorting halyards, tensioning the rig, cleaning muck off the forestay and trying to get the boat charged with the fuel cell (which had stopped working) and a seemingly inefficient solar panel.
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| Ludovick preparing his boat |
By wednesday afternoon we were ready for 'Jague', where a Classe Mini representative comes onboard, to scrutinize all the safety equipment. This turned out to be quite a comic event- four grown ups down below, rain lashing outside, and me running back and fourth between van and boat collecting items we hadn't yet put onboard. We communicated through garbled French and said 'Allora' a lot, which seems to mean 'well', 'so so' or 'ok'. We passed the following day, having pretended to have acquired another soft plug (with the new nke electronics, we had an extra hole through the hull which we hadn't accounted for!). That evening, we cooked pasta in the jet boil....only to then be fed the left overs of the meal in the club house, drink grappas and tequila (not a lot), while listening to Sergio talk about a sailing film.
Having spent a lot of time getting the boat ready and searching for the stove, Nikki quickly did some passage planning on the charts on Thursday evening, to plug the waypoints into the GPS on the morning of the race. Once this was done, we went to listen to a live jazz band and mingle with the other sailors, many of whom had Pogo 2's; the same as Basecamp, our Mini. It had felt like a long week getting the boat ready for the race, but the excitement was building, and I wondered how the sailors were feeling about setting off alone in a couple of hours time.
Friday was race day- kicking off with a briefing, in French and Italian, which saw the race delayed by an hour and a change of course around the local Island of Palamorola (120 nm). Leaving Nikki to get off the dock alone, I boarded the press boat to make sure I could get all the action on camera. Watching the boats being towed out of the marina left me feeling a little pang of attachment, and strangely, concern, for all the sailors heading out alone. I guess it must be a similar feeling parents get when waving their preschool children off for a school trip...I imagine this feeling was 20 times stronger for the partners, parents and children who waved goodbye to their loved ones in Les Sables d'olonne back in November!
Out on the water, Nikki crossed the line with the back of the fleet, but was one of the first to hoist her big kite, pulling forwards into 5th position as the fleet made their way along the sea front. There was no more than 7 knots at this point, so difficult to keep the kite filling- it was exciting to watch Nikki over take Jeffery in his prototype (the winner of the race). While the majority of the fleet were making progress downwind, one boat, Monster (600) had lost his genoa halyard to the top of the rig, forcing him to free climb the mast in an attempt to retrieve it. This proved to difficult, and he had to go back to the marina to restart 1 1/2 hours later!
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| Getting ready for a tow |
Heading back ashore, I fulfilled by media duty, manically updating twitter and facebook and sending through photos to HQ in Cowes. In the evening I took the opportunity to visit Rome, seeing the colosseum and the vatican, before finally enjoying a good night's sleep in the van...I got the bed for a change!
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| Rome |
I awoke st 5am on saturday to track Nikki, joining the jauge team in the office for pastries and coffee, to see that Nikki was the furthest offshore lying around 7th. By 8am Jeffery, the winner, had finished and was towed back in. Back out on the press boat, I helped four or five other sailors up the river, including Ludovick (2nd prototype), but had a long wait for Nikki, who crossed the line at 1400...and in 7th overall, 5th series boat! Being the shore crew, I packed up the boat while Nikki showered and did some interviews with me for the media team back home. Later that evening (still waiting for some friends to finish) we had a pizza out on the town.
With Nikki back on dry land, we had a good trip out (back to Rome), with three other Mini sailors, who in the coming days would sail back home towards Nice. It took some time for the right weather window, as the brown, murky water continued to roll down the river...the fierce waves weren't suited to sailing a Mini upwind, and without an engine, our friends had to wait until late Tuesday evening before they could eventually drift out to sea. Flying home myself on Wednesday, Nikki was left in peace and quiet to prepare for her 1000nm solo sail around the Med- 50% of the miles needed to qualify for the Transat. She was to leave later that week, and is now 190nm from Menorca in 30 knots of breeze. Unforutnatley Luke Dampier, another English mini sailor, has just had to abandon his qualification passage in the Atlantic (leaving from Gosport) due to Autopilot failure, and is recovering from Hypothermia in an Irish hospital. Such an incident highlights the real challenge presented by Mini sailing, with all the danger, passion and sheer hard work that goes into campaigning one.
Here's to Nikki, Luke and all those hardy souls battling the elements...
for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.
e.e. cummings |
| The fleet head downwind |