Dee and Sophie talk about getting washed off the foredeck (Dee) and the wheel (Sophie) while racing in the South Atlantic. April 2, 2015. Source, source.
The oldest and youngest on the boat this leg. Also: biggest goofballs.
Apologies for my not obsessing properly about the Volvo for the last several days. For those who follow the race vicariously via my fanboying, a summary of recent events is below the cut.
The first four boats finished leg 5 a couple of days ago, all within a single hour, and less than 2 minutes between 3rd and 4th, which is, frankly, kind of ridiculous. Here’s the extended video of the finish:
Finish positions were:
1st – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
2nd – MAPFRE
3rd – Alvimedica
4th – Brunel
Because Dongfeng withdrew after their mast broke they get 8 points for this leg, which sucks for them. They went into the leg tied for the lead with ADOR, but now they’re 7 points behind with 4 legs to go. They’re still the closest to ADOR, but the only way they can beat them for the overall win is to pick up an average of 2 points on each of the remaining 4 legs. Since ADOR so far has never finished worse than 3rd, and has only finished that far back once, it’s going to be a pretty tall order for the Chinese/French boat, unless they get some help in the form of a major problem resulting in a DNF for ADOR on one of the remaining legs.
SCA is still on the racecourse, though they should be finishing in a few more hours. They’ve had lots of adventures on the way north from Cape Horn. For example, there’s this exciting/scary video of Dee getting knocked off her feet by a wave while shifting a sail on the foredeck:
Dee’s awesome. I’m so glad they have her on board.
And then there’s this video of Sophie getting blown off the wheel by a wave, causing her to slam into the lifelines. She’s sore, she says, but okay:
“It is with mixed emotions that sailors head back into the Southern Ocean. It is on the one hand a very special magical place. It can be great sailing with amazing sights. It can also be the scariest place on the planet where rescue is often not an option. We will pass point Nemo, the furthest point on the planet from civilisation, in fact the astronauts in the international space station are our closest humans.”