22 September 2011
Nico Budel joins the GOR fleet as the teams make final preparations for the start
Late on Wednesday afternoon, Nico Budel, the sixth entry in the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), sailed his 2007 Akilaria Class40, Sec. Hayai, into the Marina de Mallorca in Palma and moored stern-to at the GOR’s Race Village on the Muelle de las Golondrinas quay.
The 72 year-old yachtsman and his co-skipper, 56 year-old Ruud van Rijsewijk, took two weeks to sail from the yacht’s homeport of Scheveningen on the Dutch coast, through the Straits of Gibraltar to Palma, Mallorca, completing a voyage that would have tested lesser sailors to the limit. Shortly after leaving Holland, Budel and Van Rijsewijk were battered by gales that swept through Northern Europe as they entered the English Channel, forcing the duo to find shelter in Eastbourne on the English South Coast for two days. Passing Cape Finisterre, Sec. Hayai developed engine problems and Budel pulled into Sines on the Portuguese coast, bought a 20 horsepower outboard, welded some steel tubing into an outboard mounting bracket, fitted the sturdy structure to his Class40’s transom and set-off for the Straits of Gibraltar within 24 hours.
Entering the Mediterranean, Sec. Hayai was met by headwinds and in the approach to Mallorca, the wind dropped to a shifty five knots for the final day at sea. However, there were enjoyable highlights to the delivery voyage: “Just after Cape Finisterre we had a 40 knot following breeze down the coast of Portugal,” recalled the irrepressible Budel shortly after docking. “It was the most beautiful night of sailing and the speedo hit 22 knots a couple of times.” During the stop in Sines, the duo located the engine problem and ordered spares to be delivered to Palma and work started early on their first morning ashore in Mallorca. “Fortunately, the problem is inside the boat, so we don’t have to haul the boat out to fix it,” Budel confirmed on Thursday.
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