25 March 2012
Fresh co-skipper for Dutch GOR entry Sec. Hayai
On Thursday 15 March, Dutch yachtsman and Global Ocean Race (GOR) entry, Nico Budel, sailed into Puerto Punta del Este with his first generation Akilaria Class40 Sec. Hayai following a single-handed, 29-day delivery from Cape Town, South Africa. The following weekend, Budel was joined in Uruguay by his wife, Myrna, and Erik van Vuuren, his co-skipper for 5,700-mile Leg 4 from Punta del Este to Charleston, USA.
Van Vuuren, one of the Netherland's most experienced big-boat professional inshore and offshore sailors, has – potentially - long term plans of Class40 sailing: “Four years ago I started a sailing consultancy,” says the 42-year-old Dutchman. “I’d seen some Class40s in France and I thought it would be great to sail one and see what it’s like and maybe try and organise bringing more Class40s to Holland,” he explains.
Van Vuuren is a multiple Dutch sailing champion and won the X99 World Championships in the early 1990s; has been part of a winning Admiral's Cup team on two occasions and, more recently, won Les Voiles de St. Tropez and the Rolex Middle Sea Race in 2011. “The GOR is a good opportunity to sail a long leg on a Class40 and see how it goes,” adds Van Vuuren who has already spent time in Europe sailing with Budel. “A year and-a-half ago, Nico got in touch because he was doing weekly training on his Class40 in Scheveningen and that was the starting point,” he explains. “After a few weeks sailing together, he asked me to join him on one of the GOR legs.”
Pre-Leg 4 boat preparation continues in Punta del Este and Piriapolis, Uruguay.
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