majagray: #Repost from @team_sca Justine Mettraux and Abby…
#Repost from @team_sca Justine Mettraux and Abby Ehler help tack a sail over the combing. More pictures in our website! #goteamsca #weareteamsca #teamsca #weallsupportyou #sailing @volvooceanrace
I really like this photo. As of now (1540 UTC, October 18), Team SCA is at the back of the fleet , 71nm behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzaam, which took over from Dongfeng when the latter ran into something at 0210 UTC and broke their port rudder, requiring a 2-hour stop to replace it with a spare.
These women have been battling the elements for a week nonstop, and you can see it. They can’t expect a break until they reach Cape Town in early November. And now they have the additional burden of trying to stay focused without nearby competitors to provide incentive.
Every racing sailor has been there. It’s a challenge. But you have to stay positive.
On-board reporter (OBR) Corinna Halloran wrote in the boat’s latest blog post:
At the moment, our goal is to get through our first rough patch so that we do catch back up. Sam and Libby sit at the navigation station for hours plotting a plan that will get us back in the ring as soon as possible. For hours they watch the weather systems, our boats, and the potential trackers, and then make their decision based on all the controllable factors.
However, all of their hard work and focus still doesn’t help the expected sting and disappointment of receiving the next position report (aka sked). There’s an element of hope that maybe, just maybe, for the last six hours some miracle did happen. Except miracles don’t happen every day and the two girls braced themselves for the sting a few times yesterday. Nonetheless, as expected, both Sam and Libby receive the news with grace and devise the next plan of attack.
By no means are we admitting any defeat. As one fan said: the proverbial “Fat Lady” is not singing, and, come to think of it, she is not even close to being at the performance theatre. We have over 5,500 miles to sail past them. We keep reminding ourselves: this is not the sprint races we are used to. As a team we have not raced against other boats for longer than a week— we need to remember that this is not ‘game over’ for us.
There’s a boat full of tough, determined, focused women right now who are hungry to sail fast and hard, using every single second to perform at 101%, and get ourselves back with the rest of the fleet—and nothing is going to stop us until we do.
Good for them.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1yNqSGs.
Tags: vor, volvo ocean race, weareteamsca.
