WHEN the world’s toughest sailing race gets under way in Spain on Sunday, it’ll be a case of an obsession fulfilled for Lake Macquarie sailor, Lucas Chapman.
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Meanwhile, on Saturday, three Lake Macquarie sailors, including Lucas, will team up in Alicante for the Pro-Am (professionals and amateurs) race, a prelude to the Volvo Round the World Ocean Race.
Thirty-two years ago, Stephen Chapman crewed for one leg of what was then known as the Whitbread Round the World Race.
On Sunday, he will cheer his son Lucas for the start of the equivalent, the Volvo, knowing better than most the conditions Lucas is likely to encounter over the next eight months.
In 2012, Nathan Outteridge won a gold medal in sailing at the London Olympics. He will team up with Lucas and Stephen aboard Turn the Tide on Plastic (TTTOP), to compete in Saturday’s Pro-Am in Alicante.
At 25, Lucas Chapman is the youngest member of the TTTOP crew but he takes his place with loads of experience and has already proven his versatility, both sure to be called on as they race across 45,000 nautical miles of ocean, touching six continents and 12 landmark cities.
“I’m beyond excited,” Chapman said.
“There is this drive in me to do the Volvo, that has pretty much occupied my every conscious moment for six years.
“After five Sydney-to-Hobarts and countless other races, I’ve finally made it. I’ve read all the books on the race like Steinlager Book of Sir Peter Blake, it’s been an obsession.”
Lucas recalls days at university, while successfully completing his engineering degree, where he would be lost in day dreams of sailing and ocean racing.
“I remember sitting at university, I was supposed to be doing CAD drawings but instead I was watching live videos of the 2011-12 race, with Chris Nicholson on Camper, as the fleet headed into the Southern Ocean from Auckland.
“I knew then it was something I just had to be a part of.”
When Lucas takes his position on the bow of TTTOP on Sunday, his obsession will have been realised. And there to cheer him on will be another sailor who understands what it is to have “the ocean in your veins”, his dad, Stephen.