Photos: L TEAM ABN AMRO TWO R Martin Stockbridge
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Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:00:00 UTC
Gerd Jan Poortman is from the south of Holland, and has been yacht racing from a very young age. John, as he is known, arrived in Southampton, UK to study and soon became a well-known, and very useful bowman. Before long he was racing all over the world. (Watch video)
Louay Habib, editor of www.bangthecorner.com went to find out how he did it!
The first time I met John was memorable. We were out testing some new sails and the sail-maker, Tom McWilliam, brought a ‘nipper’ along to help out with some measurements to make sure the rig was dead straight. Tom asked John to measure some of the rigging some sixty feet aloft. So Poortman attached a halyard to his harness and the rest of the crew watched in amazement as he free climbed the entire rig. The only assistance he had was from someone taking up the slack in the line as he climbed. After calling down the measurements, he abseiled down the mainsail in a controlled, but rapid, descent.
John has often been on winning yachts. In 1999 he was part of the victorious Dutch Admiral’s Cup team and became a professional sailor. Since then he has been competing on the match racing circuit and, in recent years, he has been concentrating on big boat racing, winning the European and World Championships. All his dreams came true when he was selected as bowman for the ABN AMRO TWO team when he was still only twenty-nine years old.
The first sailing competition the young Dutchman won was a club championship in an Optimist dinghy at a small sailing club (ZCK) near his home. The club is still there, and is one of the best places to race Optimists in Holland.
John’s earliest memory of The Whitbread/Volvo Race was when Phillips Innovator returned from the 1985 Whitbread. He was 10 years old and the Maxi was the start boat in an Optimist regatta. John was in total awe at seeing the enormous boat that he and his young friends had heard so many stories about.
When he finally realised his dream of sailing a Volvo Open 70, it was fairly uneventful. “Unfortunately I was injured for some of the early test sails and, when I eventually did get to go out, there was virtually no wind for the first few trials. The time that stands out for me was two boat racing with ABN AMRO ONE in Den Helder, when we got some decent breeze and the sailing was absolutely amazing.”
From that point on, the Dutchman with the English name was committed and looking forward to the challenge of completing the Volvo Ocean Race.
“I was not scared sailing ABN AMRO TWO, but more than on any other boat you have to do your job and concentrate on how you will do it: ‘where am I going to sit down? Where am I going to clip on etc’. Looking after yourself is always in the back of your mind. You know that it won’t be long before a wave is going to hit you so hard that you won’t be able to hold on just by yourself. That is especially true when the sail hits the water. The power of the sail becomes immense. I was often using double strops so that I was not swept overboard.”
“During the Volvo race I came to realise that I needed to develop my skills more at the back the boat and that is one of the main reasons I took a position with North Sails in Holland, where I now work, to learn more about sail design and how the sails interact with the rig and helm. I realised that at the top level, especially with a small number of crew, having good skill on the bow is not enough anymore: an event at the very top of the sport, like the Volvo, requires good all round abilities.
“The race was a fantastic experience for me. The level of competition and the power of the boats pushes you to the limits, it is hard work, but anything that is worth having is always hard to achieve. I would love to do the race for the second time.”
Since the end of the race, John has competed at several regattas including the Swan Worlds, which he won onboard Aqua Equinox. The crew included seven past Whitbread/Volvo sailors and John finally found himself sailing with many of the people who had inspired him when he was just an optimistic Optimist sailor.
Will he be back for a second Volvo? Very likely, but we will just have to wait and see!
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