Skipper Torben Grael and his crew made an emotional farewell before leaving the Naval Institute at Rio de Janeiro to begin their three week journey to Cascais, Portugal, where they will undergo some fine-tuning ahead of the race start in Spain on 5 November.
The crossing – in which they have already recorded speeds of 25 knots – will see them complete the mandatory 2,000 nm non-stop distance required for qualification into the 33,000 nm race around the world, and, therefore, become the first team from Brazil taking part in the event’s 32 year history.
Grael, in the history books himself as the most successful Olympic sailor of all time with five podium finishes, was a picture of pride as a naval parade accompanied their departure.
“We are finally making our dream come true, as well as the dreams of many who will follow. This is a historic day for Brazilian sailing and the beginning of a whole new era in this sport,” the skipper said.
The skipper has already logged details of the vicious conditions encountered so far and is using the South Atlantic Ocean environment to test his crew ahead of the battering they will inevitably take when the enter the Southern Ocean legs of the race.
“This dawn marked our first test with tough conditions at the sea. We had high waves, rain and strong winds. With Kiko Pellicano at the helm, we reached 25 knots of speed. We used this scenario to make some sail changes and the crew responded well”, Grael wrote in the boat’s log.
But it is how well the crew – comprised of five Brazilians, an Australian, two New Zealanders, two Spaniards and an Irishman - gel together as a unit which will be vital to their cause with eight months to spend cooped together onboard a Volvo 70.
Brazilian Marcelo Ferreira considers the 20 days that it will take the crew to travel to Europe “worse than being part of a reality TV show like Big Brother”. “In a house you can at least open a door and get away. On a boat where do I go? This transatlantic crossing will be a big test for us,” says the two-time Olympic champion.
Upon leaving Brazil, where support for the team has been extensive, many of the crewmembers had a common complaint. After two months in South America, they have only had time to work on Brasil 1 – a boat which took 35,000 hours to build. “We have only been able to see Leblon and Ipanema because Kiko lives there and took us out for dinner. The Corcovado and Sugar Loaf will have to wait until we return in March (the finish for Leg 4),” said Andy Meiklejohn.
Spaniard Roberto Bermudez has been very impressed with the friendliness of the Brazilian people. “I come from a city in Spain with only 300.000 people. I arrived here in Rio in a city with more than five million people and I was treated like a Brazilian. I’ve felt very much at home.”
The crew will return to the Brazilian shores again when the fleet arrives in Rio in March, and bowman Stuart Wilson believes it may not be too long before the trail blazed by Brasil 1 is followed by the rest of a country gripped by their history-making team.
“The first projects that took place in New Zealand 20 years ago received the same kind of support I have seen here in Brazil. And now New Zealand is among the elite in the world’s major nautical events.”
http://www.brasil1.com.br/
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