Stripped And Reloaded

What is the Volvo Ocean Race One-design Fleet Doing in an Old Fish Market by the River Tagus? Elaine Bunting Finds Out
 

A small fleet of boats lies alongside a shed that seems abandoned. Seagulls pick their way past fishing pots and nets. In this part of the outskirts of Lisbon, by the banks of the River Tagus, the only clue that something more is happening inside the building is a sign over the door saying simply: The Boatyard.

This is were the Volvo Ocean Race one-design fleet has been undergoing a comprehensive €8 million refit, designed to bring the boats back as close to mint condition as possible. It has been a tight schedule to get the fleet ready for its second round the world race, which starts from Alicante in October. And this race could be even tougher than the last: it will mark a return to the epic Southern Ocean era with a non-stop 12,000-mile leg from Cape Town to Hong Kong, sailing south of Australia.

The race’s refit facility was set up last year in what was a disused fishing market. Although unprepossessing from the outside, it provided something in short supply: a 120m covered shed with lots of empty dock space outside right next to a marina with access to the Atlantic. A deal was struck with Lisbon, which is a stopover port for the race, and the maintenance arm for the one-design fleet is now based here.

The yard has been refitting seven of the existing boats, and fitting out one new yacht, built at Persico in Italy for new sponsor Akzo Nobel.

The term refit scarcely does justice to the scale of the work. The VO65s are the hardest raced one-design yachts in the world. In some cases, boats have logged double the mileage of a circumnavigation. Team Brunel, for example, had sailed more than 60,000 miles since being launched in 2013. So to bring every boat up to a similar condition has taken nothing less than an overhaul of every single fitting and component.