Ecomotion/Pro 2008 Adventure Racing World Championship
The Leaders Set Sail
Rob Howard / 06.11.2008
The race restart for the leaders was set for 5am, just before sunrise on the beach at Camocim where a fleet of local fishing boats was drawn up, waiting to take them across the mouth of the river on the penultimate stage of this years ARWorld Championship.It was easy enough to see which of the many boats were those helping the race, the skippers all had race T-Shirts on, and their boats were resplendent with new Ecomotion sails. Some sails were in white with the race logo, others were branded with the race sponsor's logos. Each boat would carry one team, supported by two crew and had a set of short oars should there be a need to row.
Inevitably, it was a confused scene on the waterside. OrionHealth.com were the first to arrive and there was a translator on hand to help explain to them what was going on. The kiwi team were already on a high, having arrived to find rivals Nike were now too far behind to have a realistic hope of challenging for the title. They’d gone to bed last night pleased not to have been caught (which is what Wayne Oxenham said they’d expected to happen). Now it seemed that barring any problem on the sail the title was theirs.
To decide which team got which boat lots were drawn and Orion were glad to hear their skipper, Augustine, say he was a champion sailor! Just to be sure he was trying his best they presented him with a bottle of rum before setting off! (To be drunk afterwards!)
What took them by surprise was to be told it would take 5 hours for the sail – they’d expected much less and quickly took on board more food and drink. Just before leaving the Race Director pointed out they’d need to navigate the crew to the checkpoint – then they were pushed off and the sailing was underway.
By this stage Nike had only just arrived – perhaps because they were not too sure of the start time, but they were not in good shape. They were asking for a medic to see Monique Merrill who had scratched her eye and could not see out of it, but none was available, and searching for anti-nausea tablets for Gordon Walker, who was looking half asleep and apprehensive about the sail. He is not a good sailor! Rushed and a bit disorganised they even left without a map, while Mike Kloser called to see if there was any foam padding they could put on the hard wooden seats on the boat, but none was available.
Third to leave were Sole, who spent a long time getting ready, mainly setting up several big oars their support had constructed during the night. These were made from bamboo poles and bits of wood, but looked sturdy and promised to be effective sweeps. Steve Gurney organised lashings to secure and rig them and when it was called time to go they rowed off, clearly not giving up on catching Nike for second place.
When teams arrive at the finish the time differences for the sailing stage dark zone will all be adjusted so only race time is accounted for. Right now I am waiting at the finish line in Jeri for the winners to come in.
The podium is ready, the national flags are flying, music is playing and the crowds are gathering ... the 2008 ARWorld Champions are about to be crowned.See All Event Posts
