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Ian Walker: Your Club President
They
say that every year you should take on a new Challenge and so this
year I am planning to take on the Volvo Ocean Race! I have just
been chosen as Skipper of the Irish or ‘Green Team’. This
might seem fairly radical for someone who has only sailed out of
sight of land on a few occasions but I have never been one to
shirk a challenge! It is only a sailboat after all! This race has
fascinated me for years and ever since I started messing around in
boats at Chipstead I have dreamed of sailing around the World.
Perhaps I could have found something more sedate to do it on! Our
new Volvo 70 (sounds like a car and goes about the same speed as
one) is currently being built in
China
and I am overseeing the design and build process. 7 months and 4
million euros later we will hopefully have created a rocketship to
take on the world. Unlike the fiercely competitive Olympics or
America’s Cup this really will be an adventure and I look
forward to carrying the Chipstead SC burgee to South Africa,
India, Middle East, Singapore, China, Brazil, USA, Ireland, Sweden
and Russia – now I know why I studied Geography at college!
One of the reasons this project is so exciting is the new media
which will deliver more information on the boats into your living
rooms, than ever before. We will be able to send High Definition
TV via satellite from onboard as well as live statistics such as
boat speed, position, wave height, temperature etc via the
internet. This is ‘Big Brother’ and ‘I’m a Celebrity get
me out of here’ all wrapped up in one with 11 guys on a 70ft
race boat. As you can tell I am fairly excited about the prospect
and I am off next week to compete in the
Sydney
to Hobart Race to get a real taste of these boats. I hope to get
back to Chipstead early next year to tell you all about this trip
and my new project. Happy New Year to all and thanks once again to
our very hard working committee.
Best
regards,
Ian
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