flightofthelbd replied to your post: “Sophie Ciszek of Team SCA, January 25, 2015. Source.”:
I haven’t been following this, but why wouldn’t she be able to do it?
She suffered a herniated disc in her back on leg 2, needed surgery, and is still recovering. There’s more detail in the linked video.
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Sophie Ciszek, currently recovering from back surgery, will be interviewed tomorrow by the VOR media team.
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Crew for Leg 3 – Team SCA in the Volvo Ocean Race:
As I was speculating, Sophie is off for Leg 3:
The Team SCA squad is about to start a well-earned five-day break and has today confirmed the crew line-up for Leg Three from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China, due to start on January 3, 2015. As part of the crew ‘rotation’ for most legs, Sophie Ciszek and Liz Wardley will be standing down and Sally Barkow and Sara Hastreiter (reserves for Leg Two) will be rejoining the sailing crew for the leg.
“It is great to have Sally and Sara back onboard,” comments Sam Davies, Team SCA skipper. “Sophie is also suffering from a lumber herniated disc and will probably have a micro-disectomy later this week. This is a fairly common athletic injury and the prognosis is positive so it should be a relatively short time before she is back up to 100%.”
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Quotes from the dock – Team SCA in the Volvo Ocean Race:
I’m liking what I’m hearing from the team about doing their best to avoid navigational errors and stick close to the other boats to learn from speed comparisons. I’m concerned that Sophie’s back injury might keep her out of Leg 3, though. Hope she improves quickly; the Leg 3 start is January 3 (the day after the Abu Dhabi in-port race), which means she has just under 3 weeks.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1zcBU7i.
“I’m kind of known onboard to be good at catching the waves. It’s got to come from my surfing – sailing and surfing go hand in hand. The boat is much bigger and faster than a surfboard, there are 12 people on it, but the elements are the same. When I’m steering the boat downwind, I look at numbers but I pretty much read the waves. And catching a wave with the boat going around 30 knots is pretty crazy.”
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1pTNgvk.
It’s a rule this time around that each VOR team must include at least two sailors under 30. The home office must have issued an edict to highlight them, because all the OBRs have been uploading videos of their under-30s over the past few days.
You will not be surprised to learn which one was my favorite. :-)
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Sophie Ciszek appreciation post
You meet certain kinds of people when you race sailboats offshore. One kind in particular you tend to meet at the front of the boat.
Working the bow is a key specialty. An offshore racing sailboat is designed to be run from the cockpit; that’s where the “afterguard” hangs out, the skipper, helmsperson, sheet trimmers and grinders. The cockpit is a relatively benign environment, designed to protect its occupants from the forces around them.
The areas in front of the mast and above the deck are a different story. The motions are violent. It’s a zone of whipping lines and flapping sails, and in rougher conditions of waves that sweep the deck without warning, doing their best to carry any loose items — including humans — over the side. It’s a dangerous, unforgiving place.
But you need people willing to go there, up the mast or out on the bow, in the middle of the night, in storms, when things are breaking and out of control. And not just willing to go there. Excited to go there. To take that risk. To run forward without hesitation, pitting their frail human body against the forces of chaos.
That’s what a good bow person does. I’ve known a few of them in my life. When I was growing up racing offshore they were the sailors I looked up to the most. They were my heroes.
Sophie Ciszek is one of them, and I’m glad she’s on the boat. When the crew of SCA gets into trouble, she’s the one who’s going to get them out of it.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1okO9MC.
INTERVIEW: MEET TEAM SCA’S SOPHIE CISZEK — SAIL RACING MAGAZINE:
Great background on Sophie Ciszek, who works the bow on SCA, including lots on the selection and training process and issues specific to the women’s team’s relative lack of big boat/offshore experience.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1y5CKQQ.
