A blast from the past for Dalts

With the Legends regatta about to begin here in Alicante we’re surrounded by reminders of a previous era in Volvo/Whitbread racing. Boats like Fisher & Paykel, Steinlager 11, Rothmans, Viking and Kings Legend all bear testament to a very different time in this epic race.

Today, Emirates Team New Zealand CEO and six- time Volvo/Whitbread veteran Grant Dalton or Dalts as he’s known to most had a very personal reminder of his long history in this race. While being interviewed by Sky Italia in front of Fisher & Paykel (his entry in the 89/90 race) Dalts was approached by a current crew member of F & P wanting to give him something that he had found on the boat.

The crew member then disappeared down below before remerging clutching a well-worn sunglasses case. Inside was a perfectly preserved pair of Ray-Ban aviators that after faithfully serving Dalts around the world had been lost behind a radio, only to be discovered two decades on when some work was being done on the boat.

Dalts was delighted to be reunited with his favourite aviators and wasted no time in whipping them on. It’s fair to say that while a few things have changed we were immediately transported back to an ocean racing age of bad moustaches, (slightly) more hair, smoking skippers, alloy rigs and Phil Collins cassette tapes…

After revelling for a few minutes in the memories of a colossal battle around the world between two great Kiwi sailing teams, Dalts was soon jerked back to reality by some good natured stick from Steinlager 11 crew member and  Emirates Team New Zealand COO Kevin Shoebridge.

The aviators have now been hidden away, but who knows if CAMPER is leading the fleet into Auckland they may just make a reappearance…