Norbert Sedlacek is back for more. Perhaps his wanderlust is born from coming from landlocked Austria, but at 47 years old this Viennese former public transport manager’s appetite for adventure remains as unquenchable as ever.
Looking back now, four years on, he admits that he was under-prepared for his last attempt at this Vendée Globe. Perhaps then he believed the tens of thousands of sea-miles he had under his belt would serve him well enough, but he had to retire to Cape Town with keel problems on his 1996 launched Bernard Nivelt design which was built in aluminium.
Sedlacek spent the best part of two years, between 1996 and 1998, sailing around the world in a small 8 metre (23 feet) boat, before graduating to a 54 footer for a tour of the Antartic, sailing from Cape Town to Cape Town.
His boat is now twelve years old and has been updated and modified several times, variously from ketch to sloop rig. For the last race a canting keel was added which failed, but he considers he is much better prepared and ready for the start:
“ We have done just a minimum of sailing during our preparation period, but in the end I am happy to have got the budget to be able to buy new all the main things I need for a race like this. And I have had some time to do some testing, but not really use the equipment hard and break it before you start the Vendée. And so the sails and rigging are all new, and many technical things that we needed, the electronics are all new. So, yes, it may be an old boat but it is really nicely prepared.”
With a relatively small budget, sponsored by Austrian transport controls company Kapsch, he runs a tight ship in terms of preparation:
“ My son runs the shore crew with two people employed by my company. But usually once a month or so I was in the boat-yard helping out with something technical, coordination or very specific things.”
“ In the end all the parts of the hull that were not strong enough last time we have re-engineered. We re-built the keel compartment area, changing some parts of the keel area structure from aluminium to stainless steel. And we tried to get an electronics system which will read the force on the boat, so that we really have a good idea when we have to change down sails when it is really too much.”
And the boat is quicker now for the modifications, he expects to get round in between 110 and 120 days.
“ I think the boat is now about about 20-30 percent faster now, and stronger and lighter than it was before, 800 kilos lighter than it was in 2004, even with the stronger hull and the new engineering.
Last time I was starting the project with old sails. This time we have a really nice relation with Dimension Polyant in Germany which produced HydraNet cloth which is very strong.”
“I think the main thing we took from the last race is from starting the last project with no experience in the Open 60 scene. And while everybody really is friendly and everything like that, no-one wants to give his knowledge and his know-how to another team.
So from the last race we learned a minimum of performance and have used that to run a really nice programme this time.”
“ We are qualified from the 2004 Transat, because we use the same boat and keel and everything. And because we have not changed the construction then, we just had to get a new IMOCA certification, but I have enough race miles – The Transat, and the 2004 Vendee Globe and we did plenty of miles bringing the boat back from Cape Town after the keel broke last time, and we have done some offshore miles from here, just to see how the boat performs and testing in heavy conditions. The boat is based here in Les Sables d’Olonne. And so yesterday was the last time out sailing to check the electronics are working before I go out, and to see if the sails work well. We think that the boat is in really good shape.”
He remains relatively new to the solo and short handed racing scene, but is clear about why he is taking on the race again:
“ This is the top of the sport, it is the most difficult to do. There is the length, and that is not just because it is three months, but it is a project where you have to be able to manage everything, the technical things as well as your own mental strength. For me I started with projects like this ten years ago. Long legs, long races, and always organised everything on my own, and so this is the pinnacle, to finish a Vendée Globe. It does not matter in which place, with old material you can’t expect to beat the carbon boats, with ten or twelve million Euros budget. I don’t want to be the last, and I think this will a hard race, all the skippers will fight each other hard, so I think there is a good chance to finish in the 20’s.
But it depends on the conditions, and every skipper has conditions in which they are very strong. I think mine is to find the weather in the south which is very hard, but not too hard that you can’t run the boat, but times when you would really need a really strong mental force for a long period.”
His mental fortitude and stamina are what will make the difference, he considers:
“ In Austria we say you have a head like a stone. Yes, it is like our Austrian downhill skiers, you have your perspective, you don’t look right or left, you just keep going. This is one of my strongest things. Even when I was little, at nine years I made my first tree house and fell out because the construction was not so good.”
“ Through my life I have been learning, but you soon learn very which is the reality, what you can do, that brings me to a point at my age where you know the line where you learn what is possible and when you have to slow down.”
“ I think that obviously all the skippers have very, very strong mentalities. But in the end to decide the race it is not just mentally hard, I think self control is very big part of it. I think you have to accept or realise when things have run out of your control and you have to react.”
I don’t do too much for my physical training. Here I drink the odd beer or some whisky maybe, but seriously I do some gym and jogging, and here I maybe do a bit of jogging on the beach here. You do live not as healthily as you should.”
And he already has a plan, a long term goal:
“ I would not come back and do it again with the same boat. I have a really clear perspective now. When I finish the race, with the reputation of the race I want to try for one year to find a sponsor and build a new boat, but to build a new one. That is what I want to work towards, a very good programme.”
“The interesting thing for me is the adventure, and that has been the case since the very first trip with my small eight metres boat around the world. I tried to find very long legs. I sailed non stop from Fiji to the Maldives, that is around 7,000 miles. And when an Australian customs plane went over me an asked where my last port and next port, and the last one was Suva and the next one was Mala, and they said I was crazy. I was great, great experience.”
This time I will be trying not to lose contact with the field. This time, even if I can run behind like a small terrier dog, I will be happy. But I think I will be strongest in the South.
Sedlacek spent the best part of two years, between 1996 and 1998, sailing around the world in a small 8 metre (23 feet) boat, before graduating to a 54 footer for a tour of the Antartic, sailing from Cape Town to Cape Town.
His boat is now twelve years old and has been updated and modified several times, variously from ketch to sloop rig. For the last race a canting keel was added which failed, but he considers he is much better prepared and ready for the start:
“ We have done just a minimum of sailing during our preparation period, but in the end I am happy to have got the budget to be able to buy new all the main things I need for a race like this. And I have had some time to do some testing, but not really use the equipment hard and break it before you start the Vendée. And so the sails and rigging are all new, and many technical things that we needed, the electronics are all new. So, yes, it may be an old boat but it is really nicely prepared.”
With a relatively small budget, sponsored by Austrian transport controls company Kapsch, he runs a tight ship in terms of preparation:
“ My son runs the shore crew with two people employed by my company. But usually once a month or so I was in the boat-yard helping out with something technical, coordination or very specific things.”
“ In the end all the parts of the hull that were not strong enough last time we have re-engineered. We re-built the keel compartment area, changing some parts of the keel area structure from aluminium to stainless steel. And we tried to get an electronics system which will read the force on the boat, so that we really have a good idea when we have to change down sails when it is really too much.”
And the boat is quicker now for the modifications, he expects to get round in between 110 and 120 days.
“ I think the boat is now about about 20-30 percent faster now, and stronger and lighter than it was before, 800 kilos lighter than it was in 2004, even with the stronger hull and the new engineering.
Last time I was starting the project with old sails. This time we have a really nice relation with Dimension Polyant in Germany which produced HydraNet cloth which is very strong.”
“I think the main thing we took from the last race is from starting the last project with no experience in the Open 60 scene. And while everybody really is friendly and everything like that, no-one wants to give his knowledge and his know-how to another team.
So from the last race we learned a minimum of performance and have used that to run a really nice programme this time.”
“ We are qualified from the 2004 Transat, because we use the same boat and keel and everything. And because we have not changed the construction then, we just had to get a new IMOCA certification, but I have enough race miles – The Transat, and the 2004 Vendee Globe and we did plenty of miles bringing the boat back from Cape Town after the keel broke last time, and we have done some offshore miles from here, just to see how the boat performs and testing in heavy conditions. The boat is based here in Les Sables d’Olonne. And so yesterday was the last time out sailing to check the electronics are working before I go out, and to see if the sails work well. We think that the boat is in really good shape.”
He remains relatively new to the solo and short handed racing scene, but is clear about why he is taking on the race again:
“ This is the top of the sport, it is the most difficult to do. There is the length, and that is not just because it is three months, but it is a project where you have to be able to manage everything, the technical things as well as your own mental strength. For me I started with projects like this ten years ago. Long legs, long races, and always organised everything on my own, and so this is the pinnacle, to finish a Vendée Globe. It does not matter in which place, with old material you can’t expect to beat the carbon boats, with ten or twelve million Euros budget. I don’t want to be the last, and I think this will a hard race, all the skippers will fight each other hard, so I think there is a good chance to finish in the 20’s.
But it depends on the conditions, and every skipper has conditions in which they are very strong. I think mine is to find the weather in the south which is very hard, but not too hard that you can’t run the boat, but times when you would really need a really strong mental force for a long period.”
His mental fortitude and stamina are what will make the difference, he considers:
“ In Austria we say you have a head like a stone. Yes, it is like our Austrian downhill skiers, you have your perspective, you don’t look right or left, you just keep going. This is one of my strongest things. Even when I was little, at nine years I made my first tree house and fell out because the construction was not so good.”
“ Through my life I have been learning, but you soon learn very which is the reality, what you can do, that brings me to a point at my age where you know the line where you learn what is possible and when you have to slow down.”
“ I think that obviously all the skippers have very, very strong mentalities. But in the end to decide the race it is not just mentally hard, I think self control is very big part of it. I think you have to accept or realise when things have run out of your control and you have to react.”
I don’t do too much for my physical training. Here I drink the odd beer or some whisky maybe, but seriously I do some gym and jogging, and here I maybe do a bit of jogging on the beach here. You do live not as healthily as you should.”
And he already has a plan, a long term goal:
“ I would not come back and do it again with the same boat. I have a really clear perspective now. When I finish the race, with the reputation of the race I want to try for one year to find a sponsor and build a new boat, but to build a new one. That is what I want to work towards, a very good programme.”
“The interesting thing for me is the adventure, and that has been the case since the very first trip with my small eight metres boat around the world. I tried to find very long legs. I sailed non stop from Fiji to the Maldives, that is around 7,000 miles. And when an Australian customs plane went over me an asked where my last port and next port, and the last one was Suva and the next one was Mala, and they said I was crazy. I was great, great experience.”
This time I will be trying not to lose contact with the field. This time, even if I can run behind like a small terrier dog, I will be happy. But I think I will be strongest in the South.
