The team are all very busy with their final preparations before the Fastnet. Preparing the boat, ourselves – and our work lives! We will be completely out of reach for maximum one week which is for many something unusual, and requires some special communications to the home front to keep loved ones up to date on what is going on.

Larger preparations for the race – looking at the course, the weather, the current, tracking, sponsorship stickers, charity details … the list goes on.

Some smaller preparation items are also ongoing – filming of our Fastnet race, cameras, hotels before and after the race – when will we finish, so when to book? Luckily Team Heiner will be able to take an extra bag for us to Plymouth where the race finishes so we will be able to have a change of clean clothes and a shower!

For those wishing to track our progress, you can visit the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Fastnet tracking website, where the RORC have a tracking application showing the fleet, once the race starts. You’ll need to look for our boat, “Team Heiner One”.

We’ll be starting at 1350hrs BST on Sunday the 11th of August, following the traditional Fastnet course, which is a 608 nautical mile non-stop race. The race entails a gripping and punishing 608-nautical mile journey from Cowes, Isle of Wight to Plymouth via the Fastnet Rock, off the southern tip of Ireland.

Beginning at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, the Isle of Wight, the race passes noted landmarks in the English Channel including The Needles, Portland Bill, Start Point, The Lizard and Land’s End, ahead of the open water passage across the Celtic Sea.

The legs across the Celtic Sea to and from the Fastnet Rock are long and unpredictable. Openly exposed to fast moving Atlantic weather systems the fleet often encounters the toughest weather of the race on its approach to and return from Ireland.

The symbolic turn around the Fastnet Rock off the southern coast of Ireland; a rounding that heralds the race’s emblematic halfway juncture. The Fastnet Rock has significant standing in the minds of competitors, and is viewed as the halfway mark, even though the actual distance remaining is less.

The sense of achievement felt by crew must be tempered by a need to stay focused on the challenge ahead. The fleet then embark on the long return leg and the finish in Plymouth.

Distances on the course: Total = 608 nautical miles (1,126 km) The start of the Rolex Fastnet Race is from the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) line, Cowes, Isle of Wight. Yachts will race on a course of approx 608 miles via the Fastnet Rock to the finish line at the western end of the breakwater in Plymouth Harbour:

Cowes – Needles 16Nm

Needles – Portland Bill 34Nm

Portland – Start Point 54Nm

Start Point – Lizard 60Nm

Lizard – Lands End 22Nm

Land’s End – Fastnet 170Nm

Fastnet Rock – Scillies 154Nm

Scillies – Lizard 51Nm

Lizard – Finish 46Nm

We’re excited and a little nervous – but we’re sure looking forward to the race, the culmination of our campaign. Wish us fair winds and a successful race!

Author’s note: Route description is from the RORC official history of the Fastnet race guide.

The team competed in the RORC Channel Race on the weekend of 27th – 28th July after training and racing mostly on small boats and training on the Volvo60. The Volvo60 received a new mainsail and the boat and team were fit and ready to have their final test before the actual Fastnet.

 

3 boats participated in the IRC Z class and the third position was the final result. Although last in class, the team was not too far behind the professional sailors in their first race ever. Two learning points which can be tackled in the actual Fastnet: The first one was missing a mark by very swift steering but not 100% aligned boat handling in sail trimming, while arriving in a wind free spot, with current pressing backwards. It was frustrating to see the competition walk away at that time.

 

After the upwind mark was tackled, it became darker, slightly rainy, but on a fast downwind beat with the spinnaker pushing the boat to 12 knots. Some jibing was deliberately chosen to continue to profit as much from the wind and current as possible. We made good gains from this, taking back much of the loss from the mark-rounding mistake, giving hope.

 

The second learning factor was how to reef the new mainsail. On purpose the team wanted this final opportunity to know before the actual Fastnet race itself, to figure out the reefing system under pressure soon before the finish. This took some time, but was not disastrous since we did stay in the same position.

 

Overall we operated very well as one team on the Team Heiner One and were satisfied with the finish time of 13 hours and approximately 25 minutes. All of us were able to be on deck and make sure that the required tasks were taken care of. Team spirit is increasing that extra step with some key individuals being in the right place at the right time.

 

We have done our preparations and should be ready for the Fastnet. We understand that the 3rd and 4th day will have much impact on the result and this is something we will need to experience together!

 

 

 

 

With the last training weekend and the delivery completed the MBA Fastnet Team is now looking forward to their first race which will be the Channel Race at the end of July.

 

The last training weekend was very intense for the MBA Fastnet team. It started with match racing against each other on two J109s though the IJsselmeer and the Waddenzee. The races covered typical conditions of offshore sailing, demanding skill, courage, and endurance. After 22 hours of non-stop match racing through a day and a rainy night with little or no sleep, the first part of the training ended in Hoorn.

 

From there the train took the team to Vlissingen, where the Volvo 60 was waiting for another night sail on the North Sea to Den Helder. In nice reaching / downwind conditions the team went through drills of spinnaker hoists, gybes and drops all through the night.

 

The delivery of the Volvo60 turned out to be quite the opposite: a lot of time on land to relax and only 48 hours on the water – at least for most of the team. Two strong low pressure system forced the team to wait in the harbour for days. Unfortunately, the main was damaged after tacking against strong winds along the Portuguese coast. From here on it was motor sailing with jib and trysail to Porto. Given the continued bad weather forecast most of the team had to fly back home from Porto as there was no chance to get the boat to the UK on time to be back at work on Monday.

 

Even though everyone knows that sailing depends on the wind the MBA Fastnet team didn’t quite expect 9 days not to be enough to bring the Volvo60 from South Portugal to the UK. Team Heiner and three of the MBA crew continued to fight strong winds all the way up to the Netherlands.

 

For more details and pictures see also on our MBA Fastnet Challenge Facebook page!

 

Kellogg-WHU, the executive MBA global network with campuses in Chicago, Duesseldorf, Hong Kong, Miami, Tel Aviv and Toronto as well as a ZOA (Sail for Water) Business Ambassador have come on board as the first two sponsors for the MBA Fastnet Challenge 2013!

Support from the ZOA Business Ambassador is generously split between the Sail for Water charity, and the MBA Fastnet Challenge 2013 campaign.

While each team member fully finances their own participation, without the additional financial support of Kellogg-WHU and the ZOA Business Ambassador the campaign lead by Team Heiner on the Volvo 60 would have not be possible!

Huge thanks to Kellogg-WHU and the ZOA (Sail for Water) Business Ambassador!

 

The MBA Fastnet Challenge 2013 crew have undertaken two training weekends now at Team Heiner HQ in Lelystad, The Netherlands.

During these weekends they were all put through their paces – and various crew positions – on both Max Fun 35’s and J109’s. There was a definite focus on improving boat handling skills and efficiency of actions, but particularly as crew of the same team, not just as a bunch of individuals who happen to be on the same boat.

Needless to say the physical schedule was demanding, and the learning curve was steep. Yet as one crew member summarised “Pushing one’s boundaries started on day one for each crew member: not to train was simply no question – regardless illness/flue or tough work schedules.”

Just as important, however, were activities undertaken off the water. While the crew have raced together or against each other in various races in “bits and pieces”, they hadn’t been part of the same crew before – which is an entirely different way of “getting to know you”! After meeting Roy Heiner and the crew of Team Heiner, the professionals who will be guiding them through this journey, the crew were able to spend time understanding realistic team goals and expectations.

Time was also spent on land to aid in better understanding the theory of sailing, teamwork, and particularly communications on board a professional racing yacht – down to dry-runs of precise boat-handling manoeuvres while on land!

After two weekends in the winter months in predictably cold weather, strong winds, and giving their all to learn and grow as individuals and as a team, Roy Heiner gave the crew some welcome news – they were ready to train next on “Team Heiner One”, the Volvo 60 the team will be using for their Fastnet campaign!

 

 

 

 

Team Heiner have been hard at work at their team base in Portimao, Portugal, preparing the Volvo 60 Team Heiner One for the upcoming MBA Fastnet Campaign 2013!

Below you can see a “before and after” shot, while on the right you can see Team Heiner crew hard at work.

Stay tuned for upcoming features on the crew and an in-depth look at Team Heiner One.