Getting the Rio show on the road!
Written by Sasha Lines | 27 July 2014
I am writing this from the plane on my way to Rio de Janeiro for the 2014 Sailing Test Event – the first Test Event for any of the Olympic sports and as such an important moment in the countdown to the 2016 Games.
The planning and logistics for this event have been going on for a while, so it's nice to finally be on our way.
Organising this trip to Rio for a team of around 50 people has certainly had its challenges! Planning commenced several weeks ago, not least with the loading of five containers to be shipped to Rio. In early June, the RYA store in Southampton was a hive of activity where we solved the shipping equivalent of complex jigsaw puzzle, trying to fit six RIBs, four 49ers, four 470s, two Nacra multihulls, two Finns, a Laser and a few RS:X windsurfers, not to mention countless masts, booms, sails, trolleys, tool boxes and core sailing kit, all into three 40ft containers.
We really did have only inches to spare when we closed the container doors, but because shipping containers to Rio is fairly costly, we have to fit as much in as we can! I finally got word about a week before our trip that all of our containers had arrived safely in Rio, with the help of our shipping partners Peters & May, and had all cleared Brazilian Customs.
I also worked through the flight, accommodation and catering requirements for the full team, plus in-venue transport needs as well as the usual regatta admin formalities such as coach and sailor entries, insurance paperwork and so on.
We try hard to make everyone within our team feel as much "at home" as is possible whilst we are in Rio. To that end, we’ll be spending some time finding our way around during this visit, and getting to know the local sights and sounds while we are here, as well as providing some home comforts wherever we can to help the sailors feel comfortable in what’s an unfamiliar environment. Hopefully, that will ultimately aid the team’s performance the more time we spend here in the build up to the 2016 Games.
There are inevitable challenges of trying to operate at an elite level overseas, wherever that is, but Brazil is not somewhere that features on the regular regatta circuit so it’s a learning experience for all of us. Of course in Brazil there’s a bit of a language barrier and a few members of the team have been taking lessons to learn a few useful phrases before their arrival in Rio, although even then it is not always easy to be understood. On a previous visit one or team members resorted to pen and paper and drew a picture of Sugarloaf Mountain whilst in the back of a taxi, in order to try and get the taxi driver to understand where she wanted to go!
There is also the challenge of finding spare parts and equipment for racing and coach boats – in some of our more familiar and regular venues it’s easier to lay your hands on spare fixtures and fittings should you need them, but it’s harder in Brazil which meant it was doubly important during the container packing process to try and pre-empt all the things we might need! Thankfully we also have a growing network of people ‘on the ground’ in Rio who are helping to make all those challenges much easier.
Rio is certainly a vibrant, busy and friendly place and we look forward to a successful and enjoyable 2014 Test Event. I, for one, am really looking forward to it!