Ericsson Racing Team
Thursday 4 December, 10:30 GMT
by Riath Al-Samarrai
Debate rumbles on as to why Ericsson 4 have taken such a grip on this race and one reason becomes clear when you walk into their corner of the container park.
The dust swirling there is the same as everywhere else and the heat is just as hot. But there is a level of calm in the voice of the Ericsson Racing Team shore boss, Herve LeQuillec, that is not readily replicated by his counterparts in Cochin.
Among the challenges of this step into the unknown has been an adaptation to a city with no major existing marine industry to call for help, and also the integration into a different culture.
"It is not a surprise to us," Herve says.
The reasons why give some clue to the depth of Ericsson's preparation in the two years they gave themselves to get two boats ready for this race.
Reconnaiscance missions
"I came here four times before so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect," he adds. In context, Telefonica sent staff here on a single reconnaissance mission in the build up, while PUMA, Team Russia, Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd could not accommodate such a move within their budgets.
"It has been a very important part of the project," Herve says. "We had a view of the port, the facilities, the city. The distances involved between various places and the equipment. The point is to get a feeling of how the city works and how the set-up can be. Then I set up a relationship with the local people. It's very important."
So important, in fact, his first trip out was in July 2007 as part of the first group of Volvo and Ericsson executives to scan the location. A further visit followed four months later - the port agreement was not even signed until January 2008 - before his final notes were taken in trips in March and September of this year. Each one lasted about three days and during those slots a picture developed of what lay ahead. "We worked with some local people that I met a year ago for some help with local logistics, to help with our connection with the city," he explains. "We knew we would not find a supplier network or a local marine industry so we stocked up a lot of our own equipment in a container leaving Europe."
Provided there is room within a budget, Herve believes such measures are essential in a race like this where time on land is at a premium and damage to boats is often unavoidable.
"For me it is one of the basic rules of our job: logistics and good planning," he says. "It means you can survive and anticipate all of the issues. Well, most of them, not the unexpected. It gives you extra time to deal with the problems and that can be critical. It all translates onto the water.
"There is a lot to learn about these new places, it is not like Cape Town where we have been plenty of times before and have knowledge of the places and what is available. Sometimes here you find equipment miles and miles away, like the crane or the scissor lift and fork lift. The crane took something like one week to come from Mumbai. You realise there is no scissor lift or equipment we need for the boats.
"The technical items you need for rigging or sail making or boat building you can't expect to find so we brought them with us." The extent of the planning does not stop at India, though the shore crews agree it was the most unknown of the three new stops in Asia.
"For China and Singapore we have used a lot of local connections, especially from China team in the America's Cup," the Frenchman says. "I went to Valencia during the America's Cup and made contact with them. Luckily for me half of the team was French who I had worked with them. I have two people from China team working with us. One of our guys is in Singapore and we will go to China next week."
It is an approach all the teams will wish they could take. Neil Cox, Herve's equivalent at PUMA, said: "In a perfect world you would love to send people to every stopover a year in advance, six months in advance, three months in advance, three weeks in advance, but it comes down to the practicalities and cost."
Sharing the knowledge
That said, Herve has not exactly horded his discoveries. Cox added: "He has been honest and straight to the point about what we would find. It is really good that he hasn't bum-steered us in any way."
Delta Lloyd's Jeff Condell added: "It's great that the teams help each other, even though it is a competitive race."
Of course, some knowledge has almost certainly been held back and it is making for a more comfortable experience for Herve and his 30 members of staff - though they have hardly been inundated with worked after Ericsson finished first and Ericsson 3 third.
"Both have small job lists," he says. "E3 damaged its radar at the start in Cape Town, but both boats only have light maintenance and will be back on the water on Monday.
"We only planned for light maintenance in India. We had a group meeting in Cape Town and planned more work in Singapore."
In a team built around finite planning, that comes as no surprise.