Day 21: The Reality Hurts
My opinion (possibly completely wrong) is that SCA is consistently falling to the back of the fleet because of their relative inexperience, which manifests itself in several ways:
- Their performance is good at the start of legs (such that they’ve held the lead briefly each time), but then falls off with the passage of time. Enough of their crew is inexperienced with long-distance crewed racing that they tend to slip into “cruising mode”, where they sit around telling stories when they should be pushing themselves and their boat. (Note that I’m not sure this is actually happening as much as it looks like in the videos; I suspect this could also be a reflection of a bias on Corinna’s part toward showing that kind of material, rather than focusing on ongoing focused racing that is nevertheless happening.)
- Similarly, inexperience leads to their slowing down relative to the other boats at night, and in light winds (which as pointed out previously their training may have neglected). Those are conditions in which it’s normal for less-experienced crews to ease up without meaning to.
- Lack of experience makes them cautious about pushing the limits in rougher conditions. Pushing too hard will break the boat, and only experience can teach how close to that line one can get without crossing it. They’re choosing to sail more conservatively than some of their competitors, and it shows, as when their speed was just a tad less when the boats were crossing the Agulhas current in the opening days of this leg. Basic seamanship is essential; you can’t do well if you don’t stay on the right side of that line, as this leg has demonstrated vividly. But the teams whose margins for error are smaller due to their long experience have an advantage in being able to get closer to that line without (hopefully) crossing it.
- I don’t think Libby (or Libby+Sam, if you prefer) is as good at navigation/routing as the leaders. The “bad luck” they’ve had with wind has happened often enough that I think it’s fair to conclude that some of it, at least, is the result of bad decisions, not just bad die rolls.
Note that I’m not claiming they’re poor sailors/racers/navigators in any absolute sense. They’re awesome sailors/racers/navigators, with the track record to prove it. It’s just that in this particular setting, going up against the teams they’re going up against, they’re relatively inexperienced. Which, it turns out, is enough to put them consistently at the back.
It’s good to see Corinna talking about it in this latest blog post. The thing that was supposed to make this all-women’s team different than previous ones is that they were there not just to participate, but to compete on a level footing in terms of the boat and the on-shore resources.. They got their wish: they’re competing on a level footing. Unfortunately that competition has shown that they’re not as good as the other teams. But that can change. And the first step in it changing is for them to face the reality of what’s happening, and deal with it constructively. It sounds from this blog post as if that exact discussion is taking place aboard the boat.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1wdM0DP.
Tags: vor, volvo ocean race, weareteamsca.
