A 5.45 am start in London got me to Southampton at 8.45. I met Clare, Sadie and Serge from the Ecover team (famous for their blog on the www.ecoverwateraid.com site following their many trips to Ethiopia) and made the 20min trip across to Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The solent was buzzing with craft of all shapes and sizes. You could tell a big week was about to begin. For a non-sailor it was very easy to get into the excitement of the forthcoming fun.
The Extreme40 boats were so easy to spot: tall and slender and gathered together on a prime located pontoon in Cowes harbour. The enormous sail on the Ecover boat stood out a mile. Their green branding looked super impressive. They were the only instantly recognisable consumer brand and I felt proud to be involved.
We were introduced to Mike Golding and his team. Lovely guys - all with the look of many many hours at sea. We then got togged up in Ecover branded waterproof outfits. Seemed daft in the sun, but were told it'll be choppy out on the Solent.
After a super fast transfer to the Ecover boat in the 10 man Rib we met Iwan Thomas, the UK 400m runner and runner up in Celebrity Masterchef, his bleach blond hair visible a mile off! A lovely guy, full of life. He was coming out on the Ecover boat with us and doing some press photos.Clare's sons Euan(14) and William (12) enthusiastically lept onto the Ecover boat for the first run. A sailing team is of 4 crew, but a 5th man is always invited onboard, even during the racing. The 5th man, thankfully, doesn't get involved technically, just shifts his weight around as instructed. Euan and William became the 5th and 6th men for the hour. We set off behind the craft in our Rib, watching the boys settle in to their weird surroundings. The crew tend to sit on either of the keels, whilst the passengers cling to the net trampoline strung between. The boys soon realised they were in safe hands and were attempting to stand up, leaning into the wind. They soon came bouncing down when the left keel started to raise up out of the water and the speed increased dramatically as the wind caught the giant sail. Adrian (our rib driver) had to accelerate hard to keep up! We found it hilarious from our safe seat on the Rib!
Then came our turn... The wind had got up by this time and the prospect of a rockier ride loomed! After leaping across from the Rib to the boat, fingers instantly gripped the trampoline and we were off. The wind took hold, the boat took off like a rocket and the boys (now loving every moment) want to stand up again! It took Sadie and I 10 minutes to get the feel for this unusual experience. The sea is flying past just 30cm under you. The spray soaks you. The sails flap then tug above you. Meanwhile our expert crew smile and call out chirpy instruction. Every time the boat turned we had to scramble to the other side of the net, so as to keep the balance right.
I had the suprise honour of steering the boat. Bruno shows me what to look for (little coloured strings on either side of the sail that, when lined up together, show you've caught the wind perfectly). I scare a few pleasure sailors in our path. I'm having a left and right 'practice', but of course this translates to the other boats as "where the hell is this guy going", which can't be much fun when I'm in charge of one of the fastest sailing craft in the world and they're pootling along on their little boat!After 45 mins we leap across the ocean back onto the Rib and watch three 15 min races with Iwan on board. The technicalities bamboozled us all, but are told Ecover came 3rd. Nice one boys!
Typically (not that I would know, but it felt the right thing to do) it was all back to the marquee for tea and cakes before a 6pm ferry back to Southampton. My eyebrows were crusted with sea salt and I felt fully weathered from an excited day out on the sea. It's something you certainly don't get to do everyday, so massive thanks to my hosts from Mike Golding's team.
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