Ölveczky, who’s been sailing since he was 2, first convinced Engert to join the race on a long bike ride during COVID. They’ve been preparing ever since, including four weeks of Clipper-mandated training over the last two summers. They’re well-versed in worst-case scenarios, like a sinking boat or a sailor overboard.
“We’ve been looking at the weather, and the wind looks like it’s going to be good, coming from behind, just pushing us all the way to Australia, hopefully,” Ölveczky said as he sipped a beer over Zoom.
Hopefully he enjoyed that beer, because he and Engert are in for a physical and mental test as two of 18 crew members aboard the 70-foot boat. Their leg of the race, known as the “Roaring Forties,” is a “white whale” for sailors, according to Ölveczky. It passes straight through the Southern Ocean, just above Antarctica, considered some of the world’s most fraught water due to its 30-foot swells and gale-force winds. The race leg traverses 5,500 miles (8,900 kilometers), with the expectation of 23 days at sea.