Has someone sped the world up?
Has someone sped the world up? The days and weeks seem to be whipping by as fast as a channel crossing on the new Medallia. It is already six months since I finished the Vendée Globe race and less than three and a half years to the next one; this seems to be how I am measuring time at the moment.
In the last three months we have taken ownership of, launched and started training on the new Medallia and Pip Hare Ocean Racing has grown from a one-woman band to a dedicated team. Even though we’ve had Medallia home for close to a month, I still have a quiet giggle to myself when I turn the corner at Poole Quay Boat Haven and clap eyes on the beast for the first time. It is beautiful and powerful. It has incredible purpose that blends seaworthiness and resilience with high performance. It represents potential which both makes me nervous and excited. It is the next chapter and there is a lot to step up to.
The new boat is a VPLP/Verdier design first launched in 2015 as Banque Populaire. It is one of the first generation of boats that was designed to have foils and went on to win the 2016 edition of the Vendee Globe Race with Armel Le Cléac’h as skipper setting the current course record of 74d 3h 35' 46" which remained unbeaten in the 2020 race. In 2020 the boat was raced as Bureau Vallée by Louis Burton, achieving another podium result of 3rd position. I can’t quite believe it is now mine and must admit I feel the pressure of stepping up to a boat with such an incredible track record.
We have moved mountains to get to this point, immediately after The Ocean Race Europe, my refit team led by our Technical Director Joff went to St Malo, France to rebrand Medallia and get her ready to launch before the end of July. It has been a hard slog for everyone, working long days and over weekends to sand and paint the deck, rebrand the hull, then service and recommission every part of the boat. Working remotely, managing the COVID travel restrictions, many of the team being away from family for extended periods has been hard work. With limited travel options and quarantine rules we needed to get the boat launched and back to the UK as quickly as we could and I have to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved for their hard work and dedication to the job.
There is much for me to learn, Medallia is such a different beast to the old Superbigou. Working alongside the refit team in France as we put the boat back together has been a good place to start. I have always found that being able to see systems from a nuts and bolts view helps me to understand how to use them and though we have not had time for me to have eyes on every part of the boat as it went back together it’s been a good start. My first big job was reassembling the hydraulic pump and manifold that drives the keel ram. Yes people, I now move my keel from side to side with the push of a button and I can do it from the cockpit. No more scrabbling around with ropes below deck like on the last boat. I feel like a queen. I have never worked with hydraulics before and my apprenticeship has involved a lot of leaks and bloody knuckles as I’ve fought to get fittings tight in a small space. But the victory I now feel when back from a day of sailing to see an immaculately spotless pump and no sign of oil below it still makes me glow with pride.
Sailing this incredible machine is another step up for me to make and though the basic level of sailing is reassuringly familiar understanding how to get the most out of performance and stay in control of the boat’s incredible power is going to take time. We started sailing with a reasonable size crew; using the extra manpower to avoid escalation if anything broke or wasn’t quite right. I struggled with this many people on a boat that was designed to be sailed by one. I am a hands-on learner and I need time to absorb things and try them myself in my own time. Sailing fully crewed those first few days was frustrating for me as a solo sailor but I know how important it was for Joff to make sure in putting the boat back together we had managed everything well. Some problems will only surface as the boat is sailed or put under pressure and the first few weeks of getting to know a new boat it is critical to be prepared for the worst.
Each day we go out, we gain confidence in the boat set up and this week I had the green light for my first double handed overnight training and we picked an awesome 24hrs to put Medallia through it’s paces. I was training with Olly Young, a sailor I first met and competed against in the 2010, Round Britain and Ireland race and whose career as a sailor and a rigger has taken him through the ranks of International Ocean Racing to work with some of the top teams, most recently as bowman on Muripuri, the boat that won The Ocean Race Europe. We set out on Thursday with the objective of pushing the boat hard in the conditions we had. Using the existing sail and trim notes to set up in different configurations depending on wind angle and wind speed and try to get close to the performance speeds we had been passed on with the boat data. The forecast was kind to us, we found a window of 15-19 knots of wind between calm conditions in the English Channel.
Medallia is a total weapon. From the moment it first starts to move you can feel and hear its potential power. The light carbon hull skips over the waves, the structure is tight and strong, the noise below is amplified like the skin of a drum. The bow rides over the waves, it is so unlike Superbigou which forced its way through the ocean. This boat skips over it, with a light tapping as the water meets the underneath of the bow. When we get up to speed and rake the foils forwards the bow lifts further and from the deck you can see it is riding above the waves. The whole boat feels like it wants to go faster. It feels in control but with the potential to be out of control with the tiniest of mistakes. We crossed the English Channel four times during our training session, the fastest transit time between Cherbourg and Lyme bay was three hours, that was an average of 20 knots. At this speed you need to be on high alert, the English Channel is a busy place so it’s important to stay on your game. I know we haven’t seen even a tiny bit of what this boat can do. I am green when it comes to foiling and in a few months’ time I will probably laugh or cringe at how I’ve been waxing lyrical about the most basic of functions on my new ride. But I do feel privileged and I am amazed, nervous and slightly in awe of what a magnificent boat I get to sail.
The rest of the year we have diverse objectives as a team. We have decided not to race as I have not had any time off since the Vendée and I am in honesty exhausted. There is plenty we need to do and the pressure of making a race start will not necessarily help us to achieve our goals. For Joff it’s about keeping the boat in good working order so I can train, then working up our winter refit list, planning developments and improvements and recruiting our shore team for next year. Lou, who is now heading up the Business operations, is ensuring the day to day running of our team is smooth, that we are meeting our sponsorship obligations. I have two hats. Pip the skipper is keen to train, to learn and to try and get myself back into physical shape and recover from my post Vendée fatigue. Pip the head of the team is back on the fundraising treadmill, to raise the rest of the funds we need for our small team to perform at the highest level over the next four years. Medallia, as title sponsor have given us an incredible boat and a great platform to spring off, but in order to really fly we need to find other sponsors to join the team. This extra funding will allow us to work with the best coaches and designers, to upgrade our foils in 2023 and to make the boat and me as competitive as we can be.
As ever there is a lot to do and the world keeps turning. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and I have been known to sit with my head in my hands thinking, ‘I just want to go sailing’. It’s as tough now as it ever has been. I have an incredible boat and an incredible opportunity ahead of me but with that has come the responsibility of ensuring we are delivering great value to our existing sponsors as well as resourcing and leading a team. I am the CEO of a business, no longer a lone sole trader sailor. But I am used to hard graft and I have always worked hard for my rewards and sailing this boat is an incredible reward. I want to do well. I want to race to my full potential but I understand that we can’t do that without the full funding so I have to sacrifice some time on the water now to make sure the future is as bright as it can be.
Right now it is time to find a rhythm and balance and try to understand what the normal life of an Ocean Racing team looks like. It still feels new and I am getting used to having a team. One thing is for sure. I am lucky to be working with dedicated, talented and passionate people that I trust and respect. I love sailing alone but it’s never been an individual sport and my team might not always get wet but they will be with me whenever I am on the ocean.