‘Like trying to herd a squirrel’: Simon Fisher explains Azzam’s winning stretch

Simon Fisher talks to Osman Samiuddin about Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's clinched victory in the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race.

Simon Fisher of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing shown aboard Azzam during the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race. Matt Knighton / Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race

Fresh from being part of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team that clinched victory in the Volvo Ocean Race yesterday, Simon Fisher, the team's navigator, tells Osman Samiuddin about feeling victorious and targeting further success in the in-port series.

What was the reaction when you realised you had achieved your goal?

It’s fantastic. It hasn’t sunk in yet at all. It will take a little while. We were pretty quiet when we crossed the finish line. A general feeling of relief. It had been a very tough leg. We set out on this leg trying to wrap up the overall win and we knew we had to cover two boats. Sometimes covering two boats when the weather is unpredictable is a bit like trying to herd a squirrel.

How is the crew feeling now?

It’s been pretty stressful and tiring. I’m running on adrenalin at the moment but in about an hour or two I’ll be ready for bed.

What was the approach to the eighth leg?

The first bit of the leg, the weather was changing and it was very unpredictable. Even on the day of the start, I was up at 6am looking at the weather and right through to the start was discussing everything with the weather team. We were trying to work out a good strategy at the beginning of the leg. The difficult thing was there wasn’t really one. We just had to make the best of it – it was quite difficult. We knew there would be light winds and it’d be difficult. Then there would be strong winds so we had to look after the boat. Then when we got out there racing, every time we were, like, “OK, it’s all pretty good, we have things under control, if it stays like this, we’re good”, something would happen that would shuffle the fleet. We had our work cut out, but we got there in the end.

What are the plans in terms of celebrations?

We’re taking a moment this morning to celebrate but the real celebration will be in Gothenburg for us. It’s important we round the race out well, go out of the race with a bang and have a nice good leg to Gothenburg. We still have the in-port series to wrap up so it would be fantastic to win that, as well. We’ll take some time to celebrate today but the whole team will work hard towards a really good finish in Gothenburg and then there, we can really let our hair down.

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