I've met with Rob at the Solo Racing Festival and we took the chance to record a short interview. With more and more of the big boats in doubt for OSTAR, Rob Craigie has every chance to do well and take a shot at monohulls line honours. We have already published Rob's profile and past experience and you can read it here if you've missed it.
As usual, you can read the interview or listen to it scrolling to the bottom.
Marco Nannini, blogSTAR: Rob, you've been voted among the favourites among the monohulls for line honours in Newport but you're also quite a late entrant amont the OSTAR entrants. What made you decide?
Rob Craigie: There were two things, the first was when I bought my new boat [a J122] one of my first questions was is it ok to do the OSTAR? and the guy, Paul Hayes, who sold it to me said Yes, it's an ocean going boat, you can do that and then I was frightened after the Petit Bateau Solo 1000 and thought this boat isn't fully prepared, this is dangerous, I dont feel comfortable and I reflected on that and the deadline was coming up and, come the deadline, I thought I can sort out that fear, or face my fear. So I entered.
blogSTAR: Excellent... and you are known for being a very very competitive person, sometimes it plays at your advantage, sometimes it plays at your disadvantage. How do you think you are going to cope with this in such a long race?
Rob Craigie: This is one of my challenges, I have to learn to slow down, I have to learn to do things much less aggressively and consider every move. If I sail the way I normally sail I will burn myself out in the first 2 or 3 days. So each manouvre has to be... I'll have a cup of tea before I make any manouvre, before I tack, before I change sail, I'll have a cup of tea either literally or metaphorically to give me time to think.. and that will slow me down.
blogSTAR: Cup of tea sounds very english as an approach
RobCraigie: [laughing] yes, if there is a problem, it's force 10, have a cup of tea
blogSTAR: So how are the preparations going? Did you do any changes to the boat since last summer when you qualified?
RobCraigie: Yes, there were some lessons I've learn from that qualifier, which is excellent, it was heavy weather, I've decided how I'm going to be able to set up the storm jib because I couldnt set the storm jib safely so I've dedide how I'm going to do that, and I'm going to put up a radar and a windgenerator and those are the three changes. The rest is preparation, making the boat fully prepared, new halyards as needed, bits and pieces to sort out, but these are the three big changes, sort out the storm jib, the wind generator and the radar.
blogSTAR: Ok, this race is also reknowned for the many dangers that lie across this 3000 miles course, there is shipping, the heavy weather in the middle, there is shipping again and icebergs and fog and well, too many to mention... You mentioned the heavy weather in the qualifier that frightened you a bit. What would you say is your biggest fear in this race?
Rob Craigie: Well, all of those things you say.. it's true. I've two fears, one of which is being reduced very much coming to this conference is the fear of being rolled over by a big wave, I really dont want to be upside down, lose the rig, and have to sort everything out. I think looking at the weather, what people have said, that's not likely but it could happen and that's my fear, it's now reduced... the other fear is the icebergs and the fog. The fog I can cope with, the icebergs, I'm still thinking very hard about how far south I have to go to miss the icebergs. Taking advice from the weather forecaster who was here today [Chris Tibbs] and he say take all the advice you can just before you go, find out where the ice is and then make your decision. If I want to miss the ice I go south which is an extra two three hundred miles on the course, if I dont do that I go through where the ice is probably going to be. I havent decided yet but it's a fear [laughter]
blogSTAR: Excellent... so how're you living these last three months building up to the race, with anxiety or excitement?
Rob Craigie: Day by day more excitement, day by day more calmness. The big fears, the gray mist of fear comes down has got smaller, worrying about things that will never happen, that's getting smaller. The excitement of preparing the boat, getting involved, talking to other competitors, sharing ideas, it's just exciting. I want to do this race, we've seen videos today, how unplesant it can be, we've had talks today of how fantastic the sailing can be on good days, that's what it'll be, fantastic days and bad days. I'll just measure myself, not get too too exhausted, measure my sleep, and take it as it comes, hour by hour.
blogSTAR: it's interesting you mentioned talking to all the other skippers, preparing for the race and I dont remember what competitor in the past was interviewed as to why he was doing the race and his answer was I do it for the company. In a way you are making exactly this point although [let's not forget] this is a single-handed race.
Rob Craigie: It's single-handed but I dont feel on my own, the experience you share with others, the experience, it's something that I want to do, it's good for me to find myself... you're not on your own, you have the Iridium satphone, text, you can get weather forecast, you can talk to other people on the phone, you are not alone, you are on your own, you are not alone.
blogSTAR: Excellent... not long to go, we'll be looking forward to seeing you in Plymouth and all the best of luck with the preparations.
If you enjoy this website why not make a donation to The Institute of Cancer Research. For more information visit our Charities page.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| RobCraigie.mp3 | 4.12 MB |