I’m kind of fascinated by this recent video from SCA. For…
I’m kind of fascinated by this recent video from SCA.
For context, the fleet has made it past Sri Lanka, had a day or so of fast sailing across the Bay of Bengal, and now has headed into an area of very light wind they have to get through in order to reach the northwestern tip of Sumatra.
Dongfeng continues to lead. About 55 miles behind them is a group of four boats (Brunel, Mapfre, ADOR, and Alvimedica) spread out over about 15 miles, then another 25 miles back is SCA.
Since falling out of AIS range SCA has been unable to catch up with the rest of the fleet. There has been some compression when they’ve all sailed into lighter winds, but nothing permanent.
Realistically, the boat is slow. The people sailing it, as a group, just aren’t as fast as the rest of the fleet. Especially now that they’ve fallen out of touch it’s a vicious circle, because they lack the feedback that would alert them to the specific times when they’re being left behind. If they can’t find a way to make a big strategic gain, sailing in different wind unavailable to the leaders, there’s very little chance of their catching up.
Their enemy at this point is complacency. And with no nearby competitors it’s amazingly hard not to ease off. You can hear Annie and Carolijn talking about exactly that at the beginning of this video. And then you get Sam, and she’s doing her best to sound upbeat, to put the best possible spin on the situation, but you can tell she doesn’t really believe it. And then we get a long, soulful shot of Sam just staring forward, looking like someone who’s out of answers.
It gets to the heart of what I’ve been wondering about Sam’s suitability for the role of skipper since the early days of Leg 1. She’s likable. She’s a great individual sailor. But I’m not sure she has it in her to go into butt-kicking mode at a time when the crew kind of needs that.
I know I’m just seeing a tiny slice of what’s going on. It’s easy for me to construct narratives from the comfort of my computer, halfway around the world, reading into the events on the boat based on my own, very different experiences racing decades ago.
But it does feel familiar. There’s a tendency for any crew, out of sight of land and the competition, to slip gradually and almost imperceptibly into “cruising mode”. You see it on night watches, when people end up telling jokes and sightseeing, rather than obsessing over sail trim. And then the very next video posted to the channel is this one, in which we get a light-hearted discussion about the planet they’re looking at.
I know it’s just a moment. But it’s one that feels consistent with other moments from other videos, and that contrasts with the level of intensity you can see in the videos from the other boats.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1Bt4u5s.
Tags: vor, volvo ocean race, weareteamsca.
