Life on the board

Life during the race is beyond the imaginable for the ordinary! The sailors race day and night and count on freeze-dried food. They encounter climatic variations and the temperature ranges from -5 to +40 degree celsius. The sailors hardly sleep. They face possible dangers such as gales and storms, ice bergs, ocean debris and the whales. And the longest time they have to be on sea at a stretch is 35 days. Life on board is the same for 88 crewman across eight yachts. Yet they carry on with a vision - to win the race. Or they do have any other vision or reason to be a part of such arduous race?

In one of the media releases on 14.10.08, Andreas Hanakamp - skipper, TELEFÓNICA BLUE says, "Some kind of a race routine has already settled in. There is a constant change of faces on deck. Every two hours two guys are coming up while two go down, eat and go into their bunk. The four guys on deck are sailing the boat, one helming, two trimming and one grinding. Wouter and I run our own watch, navigating and helping with maneuvers, whereas Wouter digs more into weather analysis and I do a share of driving."

Would you take the initiative to be a part of such a race team, and a challenging life for nine months? We certainly have a reason to say good words and praise the crewman in the race team.