Volvo Ocean Race Skipper's Notebook- Ken Read, skipper Puma il mostro

by Volvo Ocean Race/Ken Read, skipper Puma il mostro on 26 Jan 2010 Being asked to write about my Volvo experience is nearly impossible without taking up about 500m pages. But, like all stories, this one has a beginning, middle and an end, or maybe not an end. Not yet anyway. I'll get back to that in a bit.

My Volvo experience is not unique. Starting something from scratch is both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. In the beginning, you're trying to wear a lot of hats, working hard to concentrate on what is important at that particular time, being smart enough to put some very talented people in positions in which they could excel, yet trying to keep a watchful eye.

I have stated many times that I can't ever remember being proud of a second place, but in this particular case second place was a great accomplishment. I have to tell you, there were plenty of times where I questioned a lot of what we were doing right down to its simplest form.

The important thing to establish at the beginning of a programme like this is that it is simply a start-up small business meant to market a product.

You have a pot of money to spend. You create budgets. You hire people. You put together time lines, and you remain flexible. On the hiring side, the first person in was clearly the most important.

Even though he's probably only been sailing 15 days in the entire two years of Puma Ocean Racing, Kimo Worthington was a tireless worker, who quickly became a very loyal friend and business partner.

He brought in real budget analysis and not just guesswork from the last campaign as general manager of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean team. I think the Puma leadership saw that the numbers were real and that we had a good idea of what this programme would be spending, and that we had a plan.

The group fitted together immediately, and most importantly, the Puma management group led by Jochen Zeitz and Antonio Bertone, and Kimo and I, became fast friends, trusting friends, who to this day are on the same page with regard to this programme and its hopeful future.

The next critical step was the 'buy in' of the team as to the goals of the programme. This is something we worked really hard at. From day one, I made it clear that we were all part of a travelling circus that was created in order to bring value to our sponsor. Period.

That can come in many ways and in fact we broke it down both verbally and in a poster that we made and was put up in every single container, workshop and office that we occupied all the way around the world.

Everyone that starts the race in our programme is present and accounted for when we finish the race in Russia. Safety is the number one concern. Selfishly, I could not even fathom having to make the 'phone call if there had been tragedy. In my mind, this was not an option. History has proven that, in this race, the dangers are real.

Over-delivering for Puma. We were going to embrace the media as a team! We were going to embrace looking and acting professional (acting professional for the most part, if you take away a couple of late night celebrations). We were going to run and set up our compound and work environment more like a Formula One team, rather than a group of hobos.

Just by jumping into this venture, Puma Ocean Racing became one of the largest sailing sponsorships historically in our sport worldwide.

Puma was putting their trust in us and in our sport to deliver for them widespread exposure, corporate team building, a sense of team, competitive results, and certainly helping them 'sell more stuff' to quote Jochen Zeitz, who is in the business of selling stuff. Not simply sailing stuff - selling stuff throughout their entire product line.

When asked to write about my Volvo experience most thought that it would be about the sailing, the camaraderie, the development and the technology. It would be about the craziness, the boat breaking and the amazing boat fixing, and certainly the tough times and the wonderful times that an adventure such as the Volvo can only provide.

But, I think it is more important to explain why we were in this race in the first place and for whom we were there. Sure, each of us selfishly is living the dream, but it is clearer now more than ever that in a campaign such as this it all has to be for the greater good.

A Volvo team cannot afford individuals. Will Puma be back in the Volvo Ocean Race? I hope so. We are working hard on it, but these are different and difficult times.

For me it would be a huge step backwards if a company like Puma didn't continue with sailing because sailing needs Puma and companies like Puma - edgy, exciting, young and a bit crazy.

Sailing needs Puma City, buses riding around the streets with huge billboards of 'il mostro' and, I hope, a reality style TV show that spreads the word to the world that sailing has come a long way.

Hopefully this story isn't close to having an ending yet. Time will tell.

Full story published in the latest issue of Life At The Extreme, the Magazine of the Volvo Ocean Race: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=Y0a9rZ8140Ec&PBID=d2623da3-09c6-443e-ae19-44f7fd101fec&skip=

www.volvooceanrace.com