Lewis goes sailing

The Hugo Boss sponsorship of McLaren required Lewis to go for a day's sailing on Saturday aboard the big black yacht which takes its name from the German fashion house and I was lucky enough to be invited along for the day. We sailed in the annual 50-mile round the Isle of Wight race and won our class(Open 60s) before being disqualified for a collision at the start.

In the past when DC got to do this, there never seemed to be much wind but Lewis saw this powerful boat at its best, fully-powered up and storming along the outside of the island at top speed and with the British triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie at the wheel. All in all it was a dramatic day and Lewis seemed to enjoy himself immensely. He proved to be a pretty good first-timer on the wheel(this was his first ever day on a sailing boat) and he tried a few of the other tasks on board without getting sea-sick.

I will not bore you with the parallels between top level yacht racing(particularly the America's Cup) and Formula One. Suffice it to say the two sports are very close in the sort of disciplines required. Good team work, excellent management, advanced design concepts, rigorous testing and reliability and so on and Lewis could certainly see the parallels. I think he was genuinely impressed by the technical sophistication of the boat and by the commitment of men like Alex Thomson, its skipper, who race these machines solo round the world and they don't do it for the money.

For those interested, Thomson is one of a group of Brits racing in this year's Vendee Globe non-stop solo round the world race which sets sail from France in November. No British skipper has ever won this blue riband event(Ellen MacArthur was second in 2000/01) but Thomson has the boat and the experience to do it. His main weakness has been his inability to pace himself - he has crashed out of two solo round the world races so far - but he believes he has learnt his lessons and can go the distance this time. Might be worth a bet.

We had a great day aboard his boat and it was fascinating seeing Lewis out of his natural environment. As always he got stuck in gamely and impressed those on the crew who had seen him only on television up until then. Incidentally, the general view amongst the sailors seemed to be that Lewis will be world champion one day, but maybe not this year or even next.

The sailing came in the midst of a very busy(too busy?) few days for Lewis in the build-up to Silverstone. He followed testing by going to the Nelson Mandela birthday bash in London. Then he was on the boat after no sleep at all(he had to leave London at about 4.00am). Then he made an appearance at Brooklands on Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure what he did on Sunday but on Tuesday he is in Amsterdam for the Reebok sponsorship announcement and then he will be thinking about the race track in Northamptonshire. I wonder what schedules Felipe and Kimi have had to fulfil, or wanted to fulfil in the past week.

Anyway the crap photographer had a bit of a go and emerged with some rubbish pics for your enjoyment. The picture at the start of this post is by the professionals at onEdition and shows Hugo Boss being driven by Lewis on its way through the Needles Channel. The rest are from the "CP" himself. As you can see, Hugo Boss is some boat. I had a big disaster on board when, having got some great interviews with Lewis, Alex and Ben using my digital recorder, I was having a chat with Lewis about Silverstone when a big wave swamped the back of the boat and destroyed the recorder. In 10 years as a sailing reporter that had never happened once... 

Comments

[J S]

Good story and good pics, Ed Gorman back on the water, pity about the wrecking of the modern technology all those interviews..... gone!!

[Weasel]

Aw, did they have to spoil it for you by forcing you to go sailing? I bet you really protested at that one. Nice to get a break from all the intrigue eh Ed? Boss Yacht is a bit big for ISC though...

Sorry to hear about your recorder.

[Onome O]

OMG! ED,so they could not get u a water proof recorder? I think we deserve more than that. Great pics though.

[IDR]

The crap photographer is doing a terrific job!

Great pics, nice story... congratulations!

On the other hand, I can see the parallels between top sailing and F1 as you said, But the team is with you on the machine for doing your "pit stops" and change the "tyres" (Sails).

On the other hand, not being an expert on top sailing, I imagine the importance of the "men" factor is much more important in Sailing than for F1 Cars.

Woud be great if you write some day something about main similarities and differences between Top Sailing and F1. You know both quite well and I'm pretty sure most of us will appreciate it a lot.

Funny thing you being disqualified for a collision at the start, I hope was not Lewis at the helm! (Just kidding, nothing more on this)

So, you have been able to join your most beloved sports, was that just casuality, or not?

Congrats for the thread and waiting for more. I have had to open a new event in my iPhoto for all pics I'm collecting from you!

[Dean Rodrigues]

Ed, what's this Reebok sponsorship? Is it for Lewis personally or a McLaren deal?

Ed writes: Hi Dean. It's for Lewis personally...

[CHIUNDA]

Ed in his element and Lewis out of his element and look who gets nervous and wrecks his equipment :-)) Get a flash memory recorder - flash memory is fairly disaster proof

[Kathryn S]

Photo title is too funny!

[Nash]

Amazing boat! Ed, I am extremely worried about Lewis' schedule... if McLaren keep it up like this Lewis might end up like Kimi drinking Crystal and slipping money in tiny thongs in bling-bling clubs! Seriously :-) Kimi was driven to his rebelious behaviour! Do we see any of it at Ferrari? I don't think so..

[Hank]

And you get paid for all this Ed?! Tough job but somebody has to do it!
Seriously though I just wanted to say thanks for a great blog which I never miss. (And thanks very much also for the retriever photo!)

[Marilyn]

What a brilliant blog this is. I have only recently found it. It's the best on the web, well done Mr Gorman, you're doing a fantastic job. Good piece about Lewis sailing, looks like a good time was had by all. But I can't help thinking that Lewis is doing too much. Just hope all around him know what they are doing.

[Peter White]

I am so impressed that the crap photographr managed to take pictures of the boat he was on from outside the boat. The ability to be in two places at the same time is an essential skill for the honest reporter....

Hello Peter

Looks like you need spoon-feeding. I took the picture of Hugo Boss sailing(without a headsail) after I got off it at the end of the race from the tender. Is that OK by you?

Ed

[Jordi]

I can help myself but to state the obvious similarities between a day in a F1 race and a day sailing in the stretched PR live of Lewis.
Racing with the best team, crashed and disqualified.

[Scott Cheadle, Zurich]

I told you that Gorman would be back to sailing soon.

Stay there Ed, please

[Andy G]

Ed - nice piece, shame about the Jordi

[David Hodge]

Oh dear Ed. Journalistic standards slipping again... no mention of the meal they fed you at all. Just kidding. Actually I am jealous - I can't think of anything more enjoyable than a racing yacht at full tilt.

[monaco73]

cheers Ed, not so crap pics from the crap photographer - looks like a great experience on a very impressive boat indeed. Was that crash at the start ominous or what??

And Lewis' appointments and celeb-hanngouts don't inspire much confidence for a racer who is supposed to be getting in the "zone" particularly after a couple of races he would rather forget.

Business and sponsorship committments are one thing, but partying is another. Business can provide a sharp focus on why drivers get paid, but boozing with Oprah and Elton John, for a young and impressionable guy, can mess with your head. At least this week of all weeks!

I hope he is prepared for what could be a make or break race for him this season.

[colin grayson]

hi Ed ......I realise that you only have to work 3 days a fortnight for 18 weeks a year ....question is did this count as one of your working days ?

[Anon (the real one)]

When do we do Silverstone preds?

Kimi
Lewis
Robert
Heikki
Fernando
Mark
Jarno
Rubens

for me. Something bad happens to Massa, going six races in the points is too much in this season. What it will be I can't predict. Heidfeld finishes dead last and says he is somewhat disappointed.

[jl]

No crap photographer at all. Anything you do while standing on the deck of a sailing boat, and at full tack, is never easy.
Now that I look back to those days of the Whitbread, the Sayula II, Flyer, etc. and compare them to this super-sailing-machine... well, it's a bit like modern formula one cars, ist'n.
Thank you Ed for taking the time to give us this story.
Oh, good job Lewis did not get lost overboard after all.
Really, is all this necessary?
I mean, he's just a formula one racer for God's sake, a kid in his twenties.
I understand you must keep a sort of 'political correctness' about the whole business but it would be interesting to know your own view on the subject.
Is Lewis aware of how he's been manipulated, used?
Is his father also? Or perhaps is himself the chief architec of this circus?
What will happen to the kid if he fails to deliver in a couple of years time?
Ah, never mind, he'll be a millionaire by then...
Indeed! So, money its all that matters, ist'n?
I, for one, still think it doesn't.
Anyway, I've just got carried away and ended up talking about other things.
Regards.
jl.

[Felipe]

I have to agree that he should be focusing more on the race, or races. It hasn't been his best year to date and he has his work cut out. I'm sure there are certain things he has to fulfil part of his contract with McLaren... but going to Holland for personal deals doesn't sound very wise. Though I expect a top performance from him in Silverstone, I think he needs to sit down and focus more.

[IDR]

Wonderful Pic Ed (The new one), despite this one comes from onEdition using a Canon EOS 1D Mark II N, instead your brand new Panasonic.

Anyhow, thanks a lot for sharing with us this great pic.

[Peter White]

Ed
Thanks for the spoon feeding.
Now I am even more impressed. The last time I dropped people off from one boat to another one of them stepped straight into the sea. It was off Littlehampton on a choppy day. Anyway, I'm glad you all made the transfer without getting wet, and the photos are excellent.
Talking of headsails, why don't the big yachts have transparent sections in the foresails? The view from the helm seems very restricted and I would have imagined that they might benifit from dinghy-style transparencies. Particularly before the start and when tight around marks. Always fun to look at another sport and wonder why things are done the way they are.
Peter