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Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:23:00 UTC

Galicia has natural qualities making it an ideal host for a sailing event of this magnitude. Even after the race village in Sanxenxo was packed up following the In Port race and shipped south to Vigo for the start of Leg 1, the landscape consistently served its purpose.

The coasts of northern Spain offer a lot more than wild waters and wind. Rocky hills stare down at the Rià de Vigo and Rià de Pontevedra to create a natural amphitheatre for the spectators as they waited for the drama unfold.

And drama they would get. Even before the excitement of the first 24 hours when two boats bowed out of the opening leg, there was seldom a chance for pulses to return to their normal beat.

The In Port race was a concept created by the race organisation to bring sailing away from the sole possession of the sailor and deliver it to the public. The public showed up. Roughly 500 boats crammed onto the waters of Sanxenxo to see how the latest generation of the Volvo/Whitbread racing yacht – the Volvo Open 70 – would compare to the creations of years gone by.

Ericsson won the In Port race and though the racing was not as dramatic as hoped due to light winds, 30,000 people on the shoreline in addition to the congestion on the water signified it was an objective achieved.

Then there were the spectators crammed around the Galician coast on the day of the start of leg 1 – at nearly quarter of a million people it was one of the largest attending audiences in sporting history.

It was not just in the ranks of the viewer that the event’s atmosphere reached a crescendo.

Around the docks chaos reigned. So did the clouds. The tail end of Hurricane Wilma washed through northern Spain bringing with her sheets of rain to soak those desperately rushing to get their show on the road. Until the final minutes, epoxy guns were sticking bits of boat together while the walking wounded faced a time trial to be fit for the start. The only glimmer of hope came in the form of a bunch of Good Samaritans in Brasil 1 shirts, wandering from camp to camp offering tools and manpower.

But it was collective goodwill that won the day, and though Sunergy and Friends may have to play catch up for a few legs before tasting any winners’ champagne, their presence on the start line was the story of the race so far.

They rolled into town a week before the first leg with only a plain white boat and a delivery crew to show for their efforts. A 24/7 workload later and the announcement of a new sponsor a day before the fleet departed Vigo, and Grant Wharington, the skipper, and his equally tired crew were on the start line. What a journey. What drama. Then the race began.

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