Volvo Ocean Race: In-Port Boston - Practice

I always knew that running a Volvo Ocean Race team around the word was a huge undertaking, but I didn’t realize what was involved until I joined Telefonica Black for the Boston In-Port race. Boston hosted the teams on Fan Pier where each team has constructed a base for the few weeks they are in town. There were hundreds of custom shipping containers housing offices, media crews, work shops, locker rooms and kitchens, tents with full sail lofts, and hospitality areas.

On top of that, each team needs two sets of everything because the sail boats are faster then a container ship. The Telefonica base from Rio did not come to Boston, it went to Galway, the next stop after Boston. Add on top of getting the gear around the world, the fact that you need to take care of 12 sailors per team, their families, a shore crew of 12 plus a huge organizational staff. It is a daunting task.