Double OSTAR veteran Jerry Freeman has woken abruptly from a long and prolonged nightmare, that of watching the days getting closer to the start of OSTAR with still no suitable boat to be seen. No dispensation was given on this matter, swimming is still not allowed in OSTAR.
With the clock ticking at less than 40 days to the start Jerry seems to have pulled a giant 35ft rabbit out of his woolly Norwich hat. The official entry list has been updated and a very familiar name has appeared on the once blank box labelled "boat name" next to his entry: Jerry will race the 35ft QII, nothing but the finest thoroughbred of ocean racers which Mary Falk famously took to Newport in 1996 in 19 days and 22 hours, a mono hull record that remains unbeaten.
The boat was designed by Michael Pockock for Mary Falk and launched in 1990. For Ostar 2009 she will fly the flag of the Institute of Cancer Research and continue Mary's fund raising toward her £100.000 target.
When I reached Jerry for a comment I could clearly sense he was trying to contain the enormous excitement, the entry has been accepted but the reality of the feat that he'll have to achieve to make it to Plymouth with so little time to spare is evident: now insurance has been sorted, the boat launched from shore to water, the 500 miles qualifier is completed. If anyone has preached that preparation is the key to a successful OSTAR campain that was Jerry who helped so many go through the lengthy preparations for this race, not least the organising of the bluQube 1000 solo last summer.
He now will have to quickly revise his notes and focus on the essential. Although it must be said that few boats are as good as QII in the face of the Atlantic. Jerry's determination is really worthy of praise and goes to show, once more, that OSTAR is not just a race, it's a state of mind.
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