Photos: L Oskar Kihlborg © Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 R Oskar Kihlborg
Printable version 
News feed
Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:00:00 UTC
Lucas Brun is from Rio de Janeiro and, in sailing terms, his father Gaston and especially his Uncle Vince are legends. Gaston won the Soling worlds with his brother as crew and they went onto compete in the Moscow Olympics together. Vince continued into the professional ranks and won multiple world titles in a huge variety of one designs during the 1980s including back to back Melges 24 world titles, Vince Brun was also part of the America‘s Cup team aboard Stars and Stripes and still competes at top level inshore regattas.
The boy from Brazil, who found his niche as bowman onboard ABN AMRO TWO, tells his story to Louay Habib, editor of www.bangthecorner.com
“Although all my family love sailing, I was actually heavily into gymnastics when I was growing up. I was competing nationally and was told I had a good chance of making it to the Olympics. My father and my uncle encouraged me and they were not bothered that sailing was not my chosen sport but, at about the age of 13, I started competing in the Optimist class and it sort of took over.
“I have the greatest respect for my family especially my father and my uncle and I always seek advice from them before I do anything. When I said I was going to apply for a position with ABN AMRO they backed me all the way. I was a bit disappointed when I didn’t get selected at first but I was very pleased for the guy who did. Johnny Poortman and I trained together and we often went out together. We are great buddies.”
The opportunity to sail
Although Lucas didn’t make the race crew at the start, he was part of the shore crew and worked hard with bowman, John Poortman, to make sure the bow was in good shape. Little did he know that very soon he would be racing on ABN AMRO TWO in the Southern Ocean: destination his home port of Rio de Janeiro.
“When Johnny got injured I felt really bad. We are very good friends and I felt terribly sorry for him. He was upset that he couldn’t race, but he was really happy for me as he knew how excited I was be on the boat at last, to race in the Southern Ocean, round Cape Horn and finish up in my home town. God was definitely listening to me!”
“Getting straight onto the boat in Wellington with the Southern Ocean leg ahead did make me nervous. I had done the same training as the other guys but they had tasted the Southern Ocean on the leg from Cape Town, and compared with me they were all veterans.”
“The sailing in the Southern Ocean was just crazy, mad; awesome sailing. It was the best sailing experience in my life and, when we got close to Rio after a long, and at times, scary race, the first boat to come out to see us had my family on board. My father and uncle were cheering, my mother was crying and it was really emotional for me as well.
“They were so happy to see me home safely. My mother was very worried and scared before I did the leg and although my father and uncle are great sailors, neither of them had done any ocean sailing so they were anxious for me to arrive safely as well. They were shouting that they were very proud of what I was doing and that means everything to me.
A great welcome home
“When we got to Rio it was in the early hours of the morning but it seemed like the whole city had come out to cheer us in, it was a fantastic reception. Brazil is well known for producing one design sailors. Every decade there have been great Brazilian sailors like Torben Grael, but the Brasil 1 team in the Volvo Ocean Race showed the people and the sponsors that we have the ability to produce a round the world racing team.”
Lucas kept his place in the ABN AMRO race crew, and competed in all the remaining legs in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005.
He is typical of many Brazilians. He has a very positive outlook on life and loves nothing more than to help people out. He is someone whose cup is always half full rather than half empty, and, like his home town of Rio, he loves to party. “I love rock music and a perfect day for me would be ripping up in my 470 with my good friend Pedro with a BBQ and a few beers on the beach afterwards listening to some good rock music. I only managed to take the guys of ABN out one night in Rio, as we had a lot of work to do, but the team on the white boat were such a great bunch of friends and we had a fantastic time at all of the stopovers.”
Lucas is currently working for North Sails in Genoa in Italy. “There is a big 470 fleet in Italy which is pretty cool. Also my uncle has a Star, which I want to get involved in, but next year I want to do a lot of big boat sailing as well. I really want to do the next Volvo Ocean Race; it was the experience of my life and I really want to compete again, it is the ultimate offshore racing and the boats are just fantastic.”
Back to news News Archive