The National’s Sport cover for the Sunday, October 12 issue, featuring Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam as the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race kicks out from Alicante, Spain.
Steve Elling, reporting from Spain, sums up the spirit of the event as it starts: "Azzam and her skipper are floating testament to the VOR volatility. Three years ago, a mere six hours into a nine-month event, the boat's mast shattered like the lead in a No 2 pencil.
“Three years earlier, Walker’s boat clipped a whale off the coast of Brazil in the first leg.
“As the opening chapter of the 72,000-kilometre marathon began, the moral to the story was already written: something other than the tacking is sure to go sideways.
“‘You will see everything you could ever imagine, weather-wise, sea-wise,’ said Azzam crewman Justin Slattery.”
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