The first interview with Andrea Mura after his victory at the Ostar
Newport (USA) – Andrea Mura, the winner of Ostar 2017, It is still in the United States for his victory celebrations, Solovelanet but he wanted to grant his first interview as winner.
The Ostar Mura, as he himself will tell us, it was a tough race in which he faced three storms of which is very intense with winds exceeding 50 knots. Of the 21 boats start from Plymouth on 29 May, solo 7 They survived the treatment that has given them the Atlantic, the others are due to withdraw or have been abandoned in ocean.
If, when I saw the first intense depression, he immediately decided to go up north to quickly straddle the eye of depression and falling back with favorable winds to the south. The Sardinian navigator is pushed up to the 56 degree north latitude. Unfortunately, Once past the first, two other depressions have come one after the other, and Walls continued to have sail upwind.
In addition to Andrea Mura, in the race there was also a second Italian, Michele Zambelli running on a Class 950, which, however, When it was almost past the third storm, It lost its keel and was forced to activate your EPIRB. Six hours later he was rescued by a helicopter. The day before there had been 3 bailouts of helicopters and ships, four navigators Ostar.
Andrea Mura crossed the line first in Newport on 15 June with a time of 17 days, 4 hours and 6 minutes
SVN - What is the Ostar.
A.M. – It's the hardest race in the world, biggest gym for those who want to test themselves and their boats. It's a race to do against the wind, all upwind in extreme weather conditions, a real gym. This then, the worst of all.
SVN – What happened.
A.M. – In this edition, the sea and wind conditions were prohibitive. We took a storm with winds up to 50 knots.
SVN – Did you have problems.
A.M. – real problems actually a few. It fell to the VHF antenna and I had a leak in the hydraulic piston that lost oil. Anyhow, I had an antenna of respect and oil with you, and I managed to fix everything.
SVN – It went well compared to many others who have left. Fortuna?
A.M. – No, it is not about luck but an extensive work that I do every year on the boat. Nothing is left to chance, and I check each bolt before embarking on voyages of this type. The preparation and care of the medium are very important when you decide to tackle such challenging situations.
SVN – You also win this time: honor on, but you were no opponents, what do you think about it.
A.M. – The Ostar is open to anyone who wants to prove his worth. I was there, the opponent who unfortunately was not able to beat the course record and has, to be honest, in this Ostar there were trimarans on the fastest card Vento di Sardegna.
SVN – Vento di Sardegna, a boat from 1997: It is fine.
A.M. – To stop Vento di Sardegna should throw it against the rocks! The boat is fine, I will continue to update continuously. From the original design I have made several changes, appendices and shaft are newly developed. The Ferns design was very advanced for that time, though, to date, pays the fact of having been built with heavy materials. Now the same boat would weigh much less and would be much more powerful.
SVN – Next appointment.
A.M. – I intend to participate in the Route du Rhum next year and repeat the success of 2010.
SVN – You won and, probably, you win again, Think also to have convinced.
A.M. – I think so, I had lots of feedback from everyone and much cheering, this made me really happy and encourages me to continue, I do not know if I managed to convince some sponsors.
SVN – Sponsors are the ones you have missed to be able to do the Vendée Globe.
A.M. – Unfortunately, yes, and in the last year I have just missed the target to be involved. As we all know, the situation in Italy is not easy, sailing is not sufficiently consider estate and many athletes succeed only with the cover of such entities, for example, aeronautics. For individuals it is very difficult.
SVN – We'll try anyway.
A.M. – Of course I do, I'm stubborn as a good Sardinian! My objective is the Vendée Globe, Give me a Imoca 60 and the next edition will be on the starting line!
17/giu / 2017
Alessandro Balzani
Source [ solovela.net ]
