A happy and hilarious finale to the race

(by Oliver Dewar) On Saturday evening the teams in the Portimão Global Ocean Race gathered in the waterfront garden of the Tivoli Hotel for the event’s prize giving with the fleet of four boats floodlit on the Marina de Portimão’s VIP pontoon. After a brief address by Portimão’s Mayor Manuel da Luz, the double-handed skippers and solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans, along with the event’s founder and Race Director, Josh Hall, shared their thoughts about the nine month, 33,000 mile circumnavigation.

“I am extremely proud of our skippers – they are all winners in our eyes,” commented Josh Hall at the prize giving. “I am also incredibly proud of our small team on the organisational, media and promotional side of the event. Through the race we developed a team that was cohesive and had the most amazing work ethic, all intent on making this event the success it has been. Their dedication and professionalism has made the PGOR what it is and created a platform for us to move the event forward. They can justifiably be content that together we are the only Race Organisation team that have succeeded, against many odds, to run a competitive around the world race for 40 foot yachts,”  he summarised. Click here for details of the next race.

Boris Herrmann, co-skipper of overall double-handed winner, Beluga Racer with Felix Oehme: “Being German, I like everything in a correct order! I first found a sponsor, then a boat and a team mate that together provided a great platform. Then we entered the Portimão Global Ocean Race and we won. Over the last few days I have been so happy, perhaps the happiest I have ever been in my life, and I have been lucky to share these moments with close friends and family. I also want to thank Felix because without him the race wouldn’t have been fun. It may sound strange, but in the 150 days at sea and in the stop overs, we never had a single argument or fight in the whole time…..I still have all my teeth and my nose is still straight! I would also like to thank the people in France who helped me with the boat; I will now always look for help in France for people to help me race. In creating this fantastic event, Josh and the race organisation gave us the opportunity to have a very exciting year and I want to thank all the people that have run the race. We also found the most amazing competitors and we all became like a family and I think this is the best part of the story: the privilege of becoming part of this family. The race is small and this allowed us to have this family and I hope for the next race, which will be much bigger, there is still the same ability to keep it like a family.”

Felipe Cubillos, co-skipper of second place double-handed Desafio Cabo de Hornos with José Muñoz: “What was originally a private dream for José and I became a collective dream with thousands of Chileans following the race. When we finished first in Portimão, it was 0700 in Chile, but within minutes of crossing the finish line, we had hundreds of emails in our inbox on the boat. All these Chileans were following the race through the night and this only happens with soccer….although Chile is rubbish at that game! So it was amazing that the country was following a group of race boats around the world. I want to thank Portimão and to tell them that because of this race, their city is now famous in Chile. I also want to thank Josh as I think he really raced round the world with us…in fact he was the only one to get really ill during the circumnavigation. It is obviously safer to be at sea! My grandmother stopped praying when we crossed the finish line, but I told her to keep it up as the bad things always happen on land! I want to thank all the competitors and especially Nico who embodies the spirit of this race and has already bought Beluga Racer, a very competitive boat, and he and his wife are a good example that we can all pursue our dreams [Dutch solo sailor, Nico Budel, was forced to abandon his Open 40 Hayai during Leg 2 after sustaining severe damage to the keel bulb. Budel was rescued by a bulk carrier co-ordinated by MRCC Reunion and the Portimão Global Ocean Race organisation]. When we all met in Portimão last year before the start, I thought we would just leave waves in our wake behind the transom, but the message came across that we can persue our dreams. I want to thank José, because although you all think I never leave the chart table and never go in front of the mast, I was standing in front of him when we went round Cape Horn, so I am really the first Chilean to round the cape!

Jeremy Salvesen, co-skipper of third place double-handed Team Mowgli: “This has been the most incredible opportunity and experience for me. I had never really sailed until a few years before the race and Josh came up with this incredible idea of a double-handed and single-handed race around the world in little 40ft boats that was achievable and affordable.  There haven’t been many of us this time, but we ended up as a real family and friends for life. I’ve achieved my dream and I hope that in a very small way this helps and encourages other people, young and old, to get off their butts and have a dream and have some passion as we have proved that anything is achievable. I’m proud and pleased with what I’ve done and I know that without this race, it couldn’t have happened.”

David Thomson, co-skipper of third place double-handed Team Mowgli: I’ve always wanted to sail round the world and for me the opportunity has never been there, so I want to thank Jeremy for giving up his life and helping me do this. I also want to thank Josh for providing the event and giving me the chance to sail round the world and fulfil my dream.

Michel Kleinjans, skipper of winning single-handed yacht, Roaring Forty: I really want to thank Josh for putting this race together so we could all live our dreams. Personally, I have wanted to do this for 15 years. You might think that now I’ve done it and sailed round the world solo, that might be enough. In reality, it is the opposite and I have begun to think that I could do a better job of it and I might be tempted to do such a thing again. This is becoming a habit!

Josh Hall, Director of the Portimão Global Ocean Race : “I have to admit, that it was a lot of work, but it was well worth it! The race was nine months long which is the same term as a pregnancy and I think we have all given birth to the most wonderful event that the world of sailing needs. I expect all you guys to come back for the next race and we will keep this spirit and we will keep this family feeling because that is what we are all about. But please give me a little break before I start to get the next one together!”

Mayor Manuel da Luz of Portimão: “I want to say how happy I am that the sailors are safely back here in Portimão. It has been a great opportunity for the city to be linked with such an incredible event and I look forward to the chance of being involved with the race again in 2011.”

Since the start of the Portimão Global Ocean Race in October last year, the event has rapidly proved itself to be a vital addition to the offshore sailing calendar by supplying a unique combination of close and demanding racing through the planet’s most hostile oceans in robust, fast boats with an affordable format within the reach of professional offshore yachtsmen and ambitious amateur sailors. With the successful completion of the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race, enquiries from  potential entries for the 2011-12 event are increasing swiftly and the stop over ports are already pre-planning their schedules and are expecting a much larger fleet for the next edition of this unique, round the world challenge.