Team Vestas Wind shore manager Neil Cox is cautiously optimistic that the Danish boat are on course to make a return to the Volvo Ocean Race.
Cox paid tribute to the joint efforts being made to return the boat to the 2014/15 edition, although he says Vestas still face challenges if they are to meet VOR deadlines.
The team have not competed in the race in over four months after colliding with a reef in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of November 29 on leg two.
As a result of the collision, the team retired from the leg and fears grew that the damage sustained to the boat would effectively lead to Vestas’ withdrawal from the whole competition.
Vestas announced plans in January to return to the race in June for the final two legs of the race, although they will do so without Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak, who shouldered the blame for their crash on leg two from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi.
It was later revealed “human error” was the reason for the accident, with the Dutchman taking full responsibility.
The Vestas vessel is currently being rebuilt in the Persico boatyard in Bergamo, Italy.
There have already been huge efforts to help facilitate Vestas’ return with race partners Maersk Line and sponsors GAC & GAC Pindar overseeing the boat’s crossing from Malaysia.
Vestas are hoping to return to the race for leg eight, with the fleet scheduled to depart from Portugal for Lorient on June 6.
Cox hopes they can make that deadline, but warns it is still a huge challenge.
“The deck is on, the boat is out of the mould. All the primary structure is in the boat and a large percentage of the internal secondary structure and detailing is underway,” he said on Wednesday.
“The hull surface has come out of the mould nicely and we have the paint team starting on all the surface prep work here, filling in any pin holes before the application of primer/undercoat.
“We are still receiving required equipment daily by the pallet load and have had the support of both Green Marine and Volvo Ocean Race shared services helping with the transfer of both information and parts.”
Cox, however, is preaching caution.
“The reality is that we are going to have some challenging days in front of us to hold this all together as required. But we have a pretty determined group,” he said.
“Like all intense build projects, you can see the signs of wear on the guys, but to their credit they have not yet shown any sign of things being in the ‘too hard’ basket.”
The team's immediate target is to have the boat ready to be loaded on to a truck from Persico for the long journey to Lisbon in six weeks.
