He may be the only Volvo Ocean Race debutant on board Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, but Luke Parkinson is using his head by taking every opportunity to learn from the vastly experienced men around him.
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The Australian is a race rookie but says he has been made to feel one of the boys aboard Azzam.
It’s almost a year to the day that Parkinson, 24, was announced as an ADOR crew member, calling it the “best Christmas present ever”.
And he says he is fulfilling a childhood dream by competing in the Volvo Ocean Race.
“I’ve sailed for as long as I can remember, since I was about five or six, and followed the race as I grew up,” said Parkinson.
“I kept a close eye on it, watched all the footage and videos. When I started doing some offshore sailing, straight away, I knew it (the race) was something I wanted to do, so being able to do it is pretty amazing.
“It’s a little bit surreal too. I said to Ian [Walker, ADOR skipper] on the last leg that I can’t believe I’m actually doing this race, it’s pretty cool.”
Despite being in unchartered waters, Parkinson said he has become a sponge, absorbing as much knowledge as he can from team-mates such as Roberto Bermudez de Castro – who is taking part in his sixth race.
It is navigator Simon Fisher’s fourth race and he is one of four sailors back with Azzam from the last one. Another is Irishman Justin Slattery, who also won the race with ABN Amro in 2005/06. Phil Harmer is another four race veteran and won on board Groupama in 2011/12. Skipper Walker, meanwhile, has been captain in all three races he has entered.
“I’m the young bull on the boat and the other guys have so much to give and so much I can learn from, so every time we’re sailing I try to learn another thing from them.
“I’m just enjoying my time until the end of the race and sailing every day with them.”
Parkinson earned his chance to be one of skipper Ian Walker’s two under 30 crew members – the other being Emirati Adil Khalid – when he proved himself sailing in last year’s Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race alongside the double Olympic silver medallist.
“Ian was looking for people and I was definitely looking for a ride on the VOR and I guess all the stars aligned,” Parkinson said.
“We got along really well and from there he offered me a trial with the team and then a contract a bit later on.”
Having dreamt about competing in the world’s longest single sporting event for two decades, Parkinson said the VOR has been everything he thought it would be.
“It’s definitely lived up to expectation,” he said.
“But you can watch all the footage and speak to all the guys, until you’ve done it, it’s completely different. It goes above and beyond all your expectations.”
He admitted he was nervous before he started training with his team-mates in February, but he was quickly accepted into the ADOR family and revealed the crew have become very close.
He said: “Coming in I was quite worried about that actually, but the guys have been really good. I slotted in quite quickly.”
