The Hindu : Sport / Sailing : Let the bowman take a bow

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Saturday, Dec 13, 2008
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Let the bowman take a bow

Stan Rayan

— Photo: Stan Rayan

Ryan Godfrey.

KOCHI: The skipper is the most visible face of the team in the Volvo Ocean Race, his high-profile portfolio includes meeting dignitaries and interacting with the media.

And with many of the captains being Olympic champions, the flashbulbs don’t move much anywhere.

But who does the most difficult job in the Volvo Ocean 70 yacht? “It’s the bowman,” says former Olympic champion Torben Grael, the skipper of Ericsson 4, the favourite to win the 39,000-nautical mile race which leaves Kochi for the third leg to Singapore on Saturday. “He does the most dangerous job.”

If one wants to see what hell is really like right here on earth, they say, it could be found at the bow of the Volvo Race 70-footer.

The bowman is virtually in the frontline of action, fighting mighty waves.

Every time the bow digs under water in rough seas, the bowman is slammed by the force of tons of water.

“We are the ones who get pushed around the most,” says Australian Ryan Godfrey, one of the two bowmen on Ericsson 4 (the other is New Zealander Phil James). “Sometimes, the danger plays on your mind but you forget it in the thick of things.”

Dragging up the heavy sails, weighing something close to 100 kgs, to change existing ones also adds to the bowman’s load.

“We change sails every couple of hours,” he says. He is also sent up the 100-foot mast if a problem crops up.

For younger people

“It’s difficult and that’s why it’s meant for younger people,” says the 28-year-old from Adelaide who has been sailing professionally for the last ten years.

“We get used to the job with years of doing it.”

His family is fully aware of the risks involved in the sport. But not Ryan’s girlfriend who joined him in Kochi during the 13-day stopover.

“She doesn’t fully understand and am trying to keep it that way.”

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