Simon Fisher And The Volvo Ocean Race

Telefonica Blue Navigator Shares His Experiences In Offshore Racing

Nov 27, 2008

A savvy sailor with an education in Law and Chemistry finds professional offshore sailing a balance of science and building good relationships.

Simon Fisher, known "SiFi" by close friends and crew is a 30 year old British sailor filling the role as navigator for Telefonica Blue in the Volvo Ocean Race. He performed the same duties in the 2005-06 edition for Dutch team ABN AMRO TWO, skippered by Frenchman Sébastien Josse. This will be is second around the world event.

Becoming A Professional Navigator

The role of navigator happened by accident for Simon. As a sailor, he was a trimmer by trade; the person who controls the shape of the sail while underway. On a competitive sail boat this position helps determine how fast it will go in certain conditions. The trimmer is very focused on the boats performance, an aspect of sail boat racing Simon finds most fascinating.

A few steps above trimming and a position that allows one to take in the whole picture: weather, sea state, boat handling and sail trim, is the navigator's role. The navigator takes all the information and uses it to make decisions on where to go for the best result. In this case, the best result is being the fastest boat to the finishing point or scoring gate.

Simon had been a trimmer for the America's Cup syndicate GRB Challenge and on the days their team's two appointed navigators where on holiday, he'd take the opportunity to give it a go. He claims to have been pretty bad at it, however, expresses that one must take the opportunities to learn when they present. He had good mentors and eventually moved from trimming to being in the hot seat.

Sailing And Science

For Team Telefonica, Simon has been overseeing the research which helps the team maximize their performance. This task involves a lot of data and every day they go sailing they collect numbers from testing sails, sailing different angles in different conditions, positions of key equipment on the boats and anything that can be tweaked but measurable. Simon takes these numbers, categorizes them and puts them into a database.

In collaboration with the people who design the team's sails, boats and supporting hardware, he uses this data to optimize the the performance of each. It's a massive science project that any engineer, mathematician and all around technical guru would love. It requires a lot of communication and team work.

Team Work And Friendships

The intensity of the preparation leading up to the Volvo Ocean Race and the sailing itself demands strong working relationships with people across many lines and cultures. Due to the nature of offshore team racing and the hardships they may face, there is little room for not working together, in a friendly manner. In fact, from his past experience with this race, Simon shares this last point is important.

Everyone is in it together. The whole team is experiencing the same hardships and this makes it easier to work through. The process creates tight friendships within a team and across the fleet of boats doing the race. It's a friendly race, despite how fierce the competition and passion for being the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race.

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