So What was it Like?

My boss said, “Imagine if you had backstage passes to Woodstock…that’s how excited she is.” And, I’ve got to say; I think it’s true. My experience in Boston for the Volvo Ocean Race was unlike any other. I met tons of people, helped with some servicing (ok, I sanded carbon and put One Drop on it, but Telefonica will NOT have squeaky winch handles!), and had a fantastic time just hanging out and seeing what the life of a Volvo sailor is like (well, at least the life on shore). I think we all have a lot of preconceived notions about what these people will be like. I know I for one look at some other races happening, and prepare myself to meet some, perhaps not so nice people, hell, Key West Race Week, the NOOD’s any quazi big deal big boat race has yachtie assholes by the boat load, but this is NOT the case with the Volvo Ocean Race. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of time they spend together, or possibly with the fact that they are going offshore for a long time in what can be very dangerous conditions, whatever it is, it makes all these guys fabulous to be around. It’s like being at the best event you’ve ever sailed, only it’s the Volvo, it’s epic, everyone there realizes it, and absolutely no one takes it for granted.

I’ve been back for almost 2 weeks now, and I’ve been struggling to pin point what exactly I can say about the event and my time there. Words like, “stoked”, “epic”, and “sick” all come to mind, but I really don’t think they do my thoughts justice. So here is the deal; there is something special about the group of people involved in this race, and I get the feeling it’s like the mob, and once you’re in, it’s damn near impossible to ever be the same. It’s hard for me to describe, or do a description justice, because I feel that other authors have described this quality far better than I ever could, therefore provoking the perfect emotion to help you understand the feeling that I got in the midst of everything…


“As to just what this ineffable quality was . . . well, it obviously involved bravery. But it was not bravery in the simple sense of being willing to risk your life. … No, the idea here (in the all-enclosing fraternity) seemed to be that a man should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line, and have the moxie, the reflexes, the experience, the coolness, to pull it back in the last yawning momentand then go up again the next day … and the idea was to prove at every foot of the way up that pyramid that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff….” – Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff (p17-18).

Now, these guys are not flying into space, like the men described by Tom Wolfe, however the are hurtling around on carbon fiber rocket ships, pushing themselves against mother natures wall, you have to have something special, or be a little off, to get up and do that every day.