It's been fun learning a new aspect of the sport and it is definitely something I can see myself doing more of in the future. I'm really enjoying the shorthanded sailing. What do you like more about shorthanded sailing versus fully crewed sailing? I'm incredibly grateful that 11th Hour Racing have allowed me to jump into doublehanded racing with a good team, a good boat and a good co-skipper in Justine! It's been a big challenge but tremendous fun figuring it all out. However, the way things have worked out, the right opportunity to tempt me away from crewed sailing hadn't come along until now. I've had aspirations of doing something like the Barcelona World Race or the Transat Jacques Vabre for some time now. I've always been tempted to get involved in some shorthanded sailing, the doublehanded format is something that has always really appealed to me.
You've built a strong name for yourself as a VOR navigator-what motivated your move into shorthanded sailing? I checked in with Fisher (GBR), via email, to learn more about his move from fully crewed sailing to double-handed sailing and his 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre campaign.įisher aboard 11th Hou Racing's Alaka'I - photo © Amory Ross / 11th Hour Racing It's believed to be the first time that a single team has simultaneously fielded two steeds for this historic transatlantic race.
Charlie Enright (USA) and co-skipper Pascal Bidégorry (FRA) will also be racing in this year's "TJV" aboard Malama, the team's brand-new IMOCA 60. Fisher's most recent circumnavigation was as navigator aboard skipper Charlie Enright's Vestas 11th Hour Racing during the 2017-2018 VOR.įlash forward to the 2021 edition of Transat Jacques Vabre, which begins on November 7, and Fisher will be on the starting line with co-skipper Justine Mettraux (SUI) aboard 11th Hour Racing's Alaka'I, (nee Hugo Boss) the team's IMOCA 60 that they have used as part of their two-boat program leading up to the 2022 edition of The Ocean Race. Next up was Telefonica Blue in the 2008-2009 VOR, then two laps and a race win with skipper Ian Walker's Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (15). Simon Fisher (GBR), 43, has been in this role five times, starting with ABN AMRO TWO in the 2005-2006 VOR. To navigate in this environment is to be part weatherperson, part tactician, part navigator, and part soothsayer. The course typically takes teams across all major oceans and around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, and the race is contested aboard high-performance boats that have tagged 40 knots of boatspeed and set impressive 24-hour distance records. When it comes to fully crewed sailing, The Ocean Race (nee, The Volvo Ocean Race and The Whitbread Race) stands alone as offshore racing's most competitive test.
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