Bitten by the bug

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo has been a huge step in my career. At the moment I am focused on match racing but the next Volvo Ocean Race is my main dream – again ...

Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 10:00 GMT

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

For several Spanish crew members, the end of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race has signalled the start of a raft of new challenges. Since the finish in St Petersburg in June, they have been active in a number of high-profile events.

For Pepe Ribes (Telefonica Blue) and Pachi Rivero (Telefonica Black) that has meant participation in the Transat Jacques Vabre and the Istanbul Europe Race where they were joined by Guillermo Altadill (Delta Lloyd), Antonio Cuervas (Telefonica Black). They have also tackled the Solitaire du Chocolat.

Roberto Bermudez (Delta Lloyd) completed the Rolex Middle Sea Race, while Altadill, Rivero, Antonio Cervas Mons, Jordi Calafat and Jaime Arbones (Telefonica Black) won the Fastnet Race in their class, achieving a sixth position in the general standing.

Olympic sailors Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez have returned to the 49er and Fernando Echavarri has swapped the Tornado for the Star. David Vera, Arbones and Echavarri have also featured in the Extreme 40 series while Pablo Arrarte has continued to build up his career in match racing.

One thing they are all agreed on it is that their lives have been changed by their Volvo experiences.

Pepe Ribes, from Alicante, went straight from the Volvo Ocean Race to the Open 60 class where he and co-skipper Alex Pella where they were helped on electronics and navigation systems by Volvo colleagues Damian Foxall (Green Dragon), Simon Fisher (Telefonica Blue) with David Pella (Delta Lloyd) as shore team manager.

"The experience I have acquired in the different Volvo Ocean Races had helped me a lot to face this new challenge with the Open 60," Ribes, who has competed in the last three Volvo races said.

"There are huge differences between the Volvo Open 70 and the Open 60, but I sail this Open 60 as I would be a Volvo Open 70, pushing really hard and taking 100% out of her."

After completing the Volvo, Guillermo Altadill climbed aboard the Open 60 Estrella Damm with Rivero as co-skipper for the Istanbul Europe Race and after that he skippered Charisma to a class win in the Fastnet.

Presently he is preparing for the Sydney-Hobart Race which starts on 26^th December. "In 2001, I won this epic race with the Volvo 60 Assa Abloy. We were competing in the Whitbread Race - leg 3. I have really good memories of that and this year I am coming back. I am looking forward to racing it again, and this time I am going with the Spanish boat Charisma."

David Vera entered the 2008-09 Volvo as a rookie and show experience beyond his years. He also had the Wallenius Wilhemsen Seamanship Award to show for his tireless efforts on board.

"After the Volvo I had got into another frantic boat, the Extreme 40. This sailing is so different from the normal type of sailing I do around the world, it's totally different. It's like doing a marathon and then doing the 100 metres; it goes so quickly and very fast and a totally different concept of sailing."

As soon as he finished his first Volvo Ocean Race, Pablo Arrarte hasn't stopped sailing, achieving good results in a variety of racing. "It has been an incredible experience and I cannot describe all things I have learned in the Volvo. As soon as I left St Petersburg - two days after the finish - I was sailing again and I achieved a second place in the ORC 670 Worlds.

"For me, the Volvo Ocean Race has been a huge step in my career. At the moment I am focused on match racing but, honestly, I am just thinking about ocean challenges and the next Volvo Ocean Race is my main dream - again."

As for the 'golden' boys, Echavarri, Martinez and Fernandez, they have resumed their Olympic careers for the time being though the Volvo looms large on the radar.

Echavarri, the Telefonica Black skipper and gold medal in the last Olympic Games in Qingdao has changed his plans as the Tornado class will not feature in the next Games in London in 2012. With Volvo colleague Jaime Arbones, he is now focussed on the Star class.

"I am looking forward to preparing the next Games and this time I will try to do it with a new class for me, the Star, as the Tornado is not an Olympic class any more," he confirmed.

"For sure it's going to be a huge challenge. It's a completely different experience to the Volvo. It quite funny, you are sailing at crazy speeds in a Volvo and the month after you are sailing in a Star boat; it's as if you a in a racing car and you change to a "normal" car.

"I have learned a lot from the last Volvo. The Star doesn't give you the feeling of speed but it is a really technical class. It's my new challenge but I would like to still get involved in big boats and for sure the Volvo Ocean Race."

Martinez and Fernandez are currently preparing the 49er Worlds in the Bahamas.

Interviews: Helena de la Gandara