The dramas began within 24 hours. First to hit trouble was Black Pearl when she crashed off a wave at 37knots and fractured a bulkhead.
122 | SAILING LEGENDS
AMRO sets the pace 2005 marked a sea change in the Volvo Ocean Race. First, the start was moved from its traditional departure point in the Solent to Vigo, Spain. The second was the introduction of the Volvo Open 70 Class of yacht, a spartan carbonfibre missile built with just one consideration – to be the fastest monohulls around. Over-canvassed, under-crewed and fitted with canting keels to compensate, these rocket ships are devoid of creature comforts and by necessity, sailed by fanatics. The third was the introduction of an inshore race at each port of call with position points added to the overall scores for the race. Seven of these yachts lined up for the start, two of them sponsored by the Dutch bank ABN AMRO, one skippered by New Zealander Mike Sanderson, the second by Sébastien Josse. They had been the first entrants, and they applied the extra times this gave them and the lessons learned from building and sailing their first boat into their second entry ABN AMRO One. This gave the team a considerable head start. Also in the line-up was the first Brazilian entry, Brasil 1 skippered by Olympic multigold medallist Torben Grael, Pirates of the Caribbean entry Black Pearl skippered by Paul Cayard (USA), movistar – Bouwe Bekking (Ned), Brunel – Grant Wharington (Aus) and Ericsson – Neal McDonald. Frenchman Sébastien Josse skippered ABN AMRO Two. The dramas began within 24 hours. First to hit trouble was Black Pearl when she crashed off a wave at 37 knots and fractured a bulkhead. This, coupled with the loss of the moveable hull fairings, known as bomb doors, around the canting keel, now threatened the yacht’s integrity. The crew hurriedly took the sails down and limped into Cascais, Portugal. movistar also suffered major structural failure and had to be shipped to Cape Town as deck cargo in order to compete in further legs. ABN AMRO One was not without problems either. Crewmen Tony Mutter and Jan Dekker were washed off their feet by a 2-metre high wall of water which also knocked out the steering pedestal. No sooner had that been repaired than a fire broke out when a loose bolt shorted the batteries against the carbon hull. Sanderson, holding a wet sock across his face, doused the flames moments before they turned the hull into an inferno. Two other early casualties were Brunel, which lost ground stopping in Madeira to repair a broken boom and Ericsson when