When looking at the unusual sea state and varying wind conditions this morning, it was obvious there would be many sail changes and just plain old sail dragging throughout the day ahead. And who better to follow around the pointy end of the yacht during this madness then our boat captain / bowman, Wade ‘Bubs’ Morgan.

Now Bubs is not your average bowman, in fact he is not even really a bowman at all. Standing at 6’4” and 115 kgs, Bubs looks down on most grinders, let alone other bowman. But as he puts it, “I never stuck my hand up and said ‘if you need a bowman I’m your man’. Then again, that’s not always how Volvo teams select their crew anyway.” Just look at the rest of the crew lists from other teams, and you’ll find some pretty big names in sailing, performing different roles on board then they are probably known for outside this race.

Furthermore, beyond Bubs’ vast wealth of sailing knowledge, refined over years of America’s Cup and Grand Prix racing, he is mechanically minded and truly looks to understand all facets of these yachts. Thus, when it came time for the team to choose a boat captain for the race, Bubs was the obvious choice. Not to mention “he is a big boy, and when he wants to move something – it moves!” said watch-leader Craig Satterthwaite.

So in following him for an afternoon of sail changes and stack shifts, I could not help but be impressed by how agile he was in such an unstable environment. And as he factitiously remarked after being out at the end of the prod to fix a furling unit “I must make this job look like a great time!”