Jack Bouttell. He’s 23, from Australia – and the newest member of Dongfeng Race Team’s crew. "It hasn't sunk in yet", he smiles on the dock, squinting in the Abu Dhabi sunshine. "Its still quite busy. There's quite a bit of work on the boat to do. It's all just happening!”
Credit : A Sanchez
So, how did all this come about? Well, let’s start at the very beginning.
“I was born in Australia, all my family is Australian and my dad's quite a keen sailor,” he says. “I started sailing through my school when I was 13, and then I moved to the UK when I was 15 with my family - I kind of saw more of a sailing world and thought I could do this as a career.”
He shrugs. “From there, I just spent as much time as I could sailing, working on boats, doing everything I could involving boats.”
This young sailor might be new to the Volvo Ocean Race, but he’s been around the French-Chinese team for a while now. "The first involvement I had with this boat was when it was brand new, at Green Marine in the UK. I worked on the boat, putting it together.The first job I had back then was driving the RIB, and then I got more and more involved in the Shore Crew.”
He’s earned his stripes onshore, then – but in the meantime, he’s been chalking up the miles on the water, too.
“The last two years I've competed on the Figaro circuit, living and training in France,” he explains. “I guess I feel a little bit French! All the other guys onboard have come through the Figaro, so have similar backgrounds – I’m a little bit in awe of what they’ve achieved. They’re all guys I’ve looked up to, Michel Desjoyeaux, Charles and Pascal,” admits Jack. “I've read about them in magazines, and now I’m sailing against and amongst them.”
Jack is stepping onto the boat in place of Swede Martin Strömberg, who is something of a Volvo Ocean Race legend having won last edition onboard Groupama. So how has dad taken the news all the way back in Australia?
“My dad says its unreal. He's quite a grounder. I haven't lived in one place for more than a month for the last 5 years and my parents always remind me that what I’m doing is pretty cool. Sometimes I'm so full on that I don't think about it a lot. I had a gap without seeing them for 2 years. It's quite hard to do this and move around, but also it's what I love doing.”
And what a leg to have finally been given the opportunity to sail – the homecoming trip to Sanya.
“I'm just excited to be onboard so any leg, any conditions, anywhere, I'm just really excited. Through pure annoyance asking if I could go sailing I was allowed onboard,” he smiles. “I think it'll be a very tough leg from speaking to a few of the other guys who've done this leg or this section of the race before, it should be interesting to see how it goes.”
So what does this Dongfeng newbie expect to find when he arrives in his team’s home country?
He pauses. “Sanya will be a massive stopover - pretty cool. My parents were talking about coming to China too, but it's just logistics. We'll see, maybe.”
Well, it seems like taking each day as it comes has worked out pretty well so far.
From Volvo Ocean Race - By Jonno Turner
