WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

(by Oliver Dewar) Just under a month after the final boat in the Portimão Global Ocean Race crossed the finish line in Portugal and completed the 33,000 mile circumnavigation, the four teams; Beluga Racer, Desafio Cabo de Hornos, Team Mowgli and Roaring Forty have scatter throughout Europe and Chile.

On Wednesday 15th July, the Portimão Global Ocean Race overall victors made a triumphant return to Hamburg, Germany. “There were 30 boats joining us coming into Hamburg,” reports Boris Herrmann. “There was also a fire fighting boat pumping water everywhere and around 250 people waiting on the pontoon with six or seven TV stations.” The outstanding media interest in the German team of Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme throughout the successful circumnavigation on board their Class 40, Beluga Racer, is a phenomenon and their popularity is set to increase.

Proudly flying the burgees of the Kieler Yacht Club (Herrmann) and the Luebecker Yacht Club (Oehme), Beluga Racer followed the fire fighting vessel Branddirektor Kruegar until the German Class 40 passed under the new bridge into Sandtor Harbour to be met by crowds of spectators and VIPs including the State Councillor, Dr Manfred Jaegar. “We arrived at 1100 and after a reception we then talked to the media followed by a live interview in a TV studio,” continues Herrmann (click here to see the TV interview). “After spending some time with my Dad, we left again and we’re on our way to Kiel for another reception.”

The quickest route from Hamburg to Kiel is via the 50 mile long Kiel Canal running north-east from Hamburg and linking the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. “I have to sleep a bit before tonight’s reception in Kiel,” explained the German skipper on Thursday. “But we are now sailing with the spinnaker through the canal, which is really narrow, so I can’t sleep at the moment!” For Boris Herrmann the next competitive event will be the Rolex Fastnet Race on Sunday 9th August on board a new, chartered Beluga Racer as the existing yacht will be handed over to her new owner, Portimão Global Ocean Race solo sailor, Nico Budel, at the end of July.

The British team of Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson took third place in the double-handed class on Team Mowgli and the duo arrived back in the UK on Tuesday 7th July, mooring in their base at Haslar Marina, Gosport, on the south coast of England. “We arrived back in the middle of a squall, so unfortunately everyone on the dock got completely soaked,” recalls Thomson. “There were quite a lot of people,” he continues. “Dee Caffari was there and lots of friends and family.” With Team Mowgli on the market, the Class 40 Akilaria has been given a lot of attention since returning to Britain: “We’ve stripped the boat back to cruising mode-ish and there are a few bits and bobs to do before people start coming to look at it,” explains Thomson. The British yachtsman is also involved in planning his own offshore racing campaign: “We’re putting together a strategy and making lists of what we need to do,” he confirms, although after nine months of racing around the planet, onshore accommodation is a priority. “I’m also on a house hunt at the moment,” he adds.

Three days after arriving in the UK, Thomson’s co-skipper, Jeremy Salvesen, returned to his home in Elie, a tiny hamlet on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth, Scotland. “I live in a very small place and I arrived back on a Friday evening and within half an hour there were people banging on my door,” he explains. “So, a bottle of wine got opened, then I walked from home down to the pub, which is about a quarter of a mile, during which time six cars passed me and each one stopped. So, of course, we all ended up in the pub.” This reunion within the close-knit community was a high-spirited affair. “Obviously, nothing much changes at home as everybody’s life carries on as normal and although you have been away doing something silly, everyone else has been plugging away as normal,” explains Salvesen. “So you just carry on where you left off.”

Having carved a successful niche as an entrepreneur before learning to sail three years ago, the British skipper is planning some time off before returning to work.  “I’ve got my sons back and you need to spend some time with your family and I owe them that,” he explains. “I want to teach the boys how to drive, play some golf with them and take them fishing,” says Salvesen. “In a couple of month’s time I need to think about getting back to work and I’ve got a few ideas. Getting involved in small businesses as a shareholder and non-executive director and a couple of start-up businesses that I want to explore.” Always on the hunt for adventure and an adrenalin fix, Salvesen is keeping his long term options open. “So, I’ll try and get back to normal for a while and see what the future holds,” he says. “Which is exciting as I don’t really know what could happen!”

Shortly after the prize giving, second place double-handed Class 40, Desafio Cabo de Hornos left the Marina de Portimão skippered by Felipe Cubillos with two crew while co-skipper José Muñoz and his wife, Ely, stayed in Portugal for a brief holiday before returning to Chile. While both of Chile’s most famous offshore yachtsmen are now back in their homeland, Desafio Cabo de Hornos is currently undergoing a refit at FR Nautisme in Lorient, France: the yard from which the boat was launched early in 2008. “We will be back in France on August 2nd to prepare for the Fastnet and then the Class 40 World Championships,” confirms Cubillos who will join Beluga Racer and other Class 40s for the Rolex Fastnet Race and the championships in Hamble on the English south coast between 18-21 August. Looking further ahead, the Chilean team may be racing across the North Atlantic to the Yucatan later in the year. “In October, probably we will race the Solidaire du Chocolat and then bring the boat to Chile,” adds the Chilean skipper.

Having completed the Portimão Global Ocean Race in the single-handed class, Belgian solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans, has thrown himself back into his property developing business. “I’ve been back at work for two weeks and everything is going well and I’ve got back into work easily,” he confirms. Meanwhile, Open 40 Roaring Forty left Portimão, Portugal, without Kleinjans on the evening of Tuesday 14th July with three people on board arriving in Cascais west of Lisbon on Thursday. The Belgian solo sailor put the yacht on the market for €110,000 soon after finishing the circumnavigation and interest in the record breaking, Lutra Design Group Open 40 is high. “I’ve got two or three interested people,” he confirms. “A Norwegian, an American and a Dutchman.” While prospective buyers continue to contact Kleinjans, the boat is still heading north and will stop briefly at Niuewpoort, just north of the Franco-Belgian border, before continuing a further 25 miles along the coast to Zeebrugge for a public reception during the first weekend in August.