SCA is still in last, but they’ve gained a lot of distance…
SCA is still in last, but they’ve gained a lot of distance on the boats ahead of them. Twenty-four hours ago they trailed sixth-place Mapfre by 50 miles. As of 0340 UTC (November 6), they trail by just under 13 miles.
There’s a narrative I’m tempted to impose. The latest videos from SCA show them being upbeat, positive, even a little punchy. You get the sense that after so long in DFL (an acronym I learned recently from the droll commenters at Sailing Anarchy), they don’t feel like they have anything to lose, and would dearly love to move up at least one spot. Meanwhile, Mapfre gives off a sense of unhappiness and disappointment; on paper they really should have been more competitive, and being stuck back here with “the girls” must rankle.
I’m suspicious of that narrative. But how many times has that story played out in sport, where the scrappy underdogs, emboldened by the prospect of an upset, play above their heads, while the struggling favorites tighten up?
More important than any narrative is what the weighted random number generator of the wind does over the next day or so. But SCA appears to have a shot.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1poyJrb.
Tags: vor, volvo ocean race, weareteamsca, mapfre.
