Moving on up
News
October 28. 2008 at 14:10
© DR
A proud Basque, Unai Basurko has not stopped working on his Australian designed and built Pakea Bizkaia since he finished third in the Velux 5 Oceans Race in May 2007.
And in the basin of Port Olona he and his team continue their daily itinerary, making ready for his first solo non stop circumnavigation. Their jobs list is shrinking, and by this weekend he promises it will be time to down tools and enjoy a ‘proper Basque party’ to thank all his friends and supporters before he takes on the Vendée Globe.
Compared with the new powerful giants, his Murray Burns Dovell design is lighter, narrower with a slender, conventional three spreader mast, five metres shorter than some of the newest rigs, but Basurko says he is very happy with his boat, and knows it well having now sailed over 70,000 miles since launching in Australia. And with a budget of €3m over four years, including the build of the boat, then he has had to be careful how he spends and works.
His team is a tight knit group of friends, they work away with good humour, getting ready for the start:
“We have checked all the keel, the mast, the electronics, the autopilot, so many things. We are nearly there and hopefully in four days we will be done. We go sailing tomorrow to check some electronics.”
“I am so happy because the Bizkaia government is supporting me, but the budget is not so much, so we don’t have so much money and we have support from BBK, the bank, but it is getting better all the time.”
“I hope that I can do a good job for them, that I finish well, and we are still together in years to come. But I don’t want to look to the future at the moment, I am just focussing on my race.”
Compared with the new powerful giants, his Murray Burns Dovell design is lighter, narrower with a slender, conventional three spreader mast, five metres shorter than some of the newest rigs, but Basurko says he is very happy with his boat, and knows it well having now sailed over 70,000 miles since launching in Australia. And with a budget of €3m over four years, including the build of the boat, then he has had to be careful how he spends and works.
His team is a tight knit group of friends, they work away with good humour, getting ready for the start:
“We have checked all the keel, the mast, the electronics, the autopilot, so many things. We are nearly there and hopefully in four days we will be done. We go sailing tomorrow to check some electronics.”
“I am so happy because the Bizkaia government is supporting me, but the budget is not so much, so we don’t have so much money and we have support from BBK, the bank, but it is getting better all the time.”
“I hope that I can do a good job for them, that I finish well, and we are still together in years to come. But I don’t want to look to the future at the moment, I am just focussing on my race.”
Infos précédentes :
- 28/10/08 at 14:10 : Moving on up
- 28/10/08 at 13:00 : Anne Liardet - I so enjoyed it!
- 28/10/08 at 10:30 : The backstage boys
- 28/10/08 at 06:30 : Feeding 'Les Rosbifs'
- 27/10/08 at 17:41 : Aquarelle.com testing her hydrogenerators
- 27/10/08 at 16:00 : French TV star, Nicolas Hulot visits the Vendée Globe
- 27/10/08 at 14:41 : Psycho chiller.....Qu´est-ce que c´est?
- 26/10/08 at 17:29 : Arnaud Boissières : my boat and I, we´ve come a long way together
- 26/10/08 at 16:58 : The Vendée Globe light show
- 26/10/08 at 12:14 : Weekend World: The people’s race.
