(Continued from here)

Yes! IKR??

I just rewatched that video of them in the Bristol Channel and it’s true; something about the combination of how absolutely glassy flat it was and so quiet and the 4-knot breeze just gently breathing over them and THAT LIGHT it was just… breathtakingly, heart-stoppingly beautiful.

And Pascal is putting his hand in Jérémie’s camera lens and flipping him off, and Charles is just muttering, muttering, because there’s nothing they can do, and they get the sched that says Brunel and AkzoNobel, only 18 miles away on the south side of the channel, are in 20 KNOTS OF WIND! And he can’t know what fans knew watching the tracker, which is that it was just a momentary puff; both boats were back in 6 knots of wind a few minutes later. But on board they only get the sched once every 6 hours, and it will be 0100 UTC before they get another update and they are STUCK on the north side, committed, with no way to get across the adverse current; they’re just going to sit there and wallow while the fleet sails past them.

So for Charles it’s just like *fuck me*; it’s the Newport arrival all over again, when they went from leading the leg with every expectation of winning down to finishing 4th in the last few miles. Or going back to the last edition when they were on track to threaten ADOR for the overall race lead heading toward Cape Horn and then the mast just snapped and he slammed his hand on the wheel and screamed.

He’s usually so low-key. He’s quiet, and seems easy-going. But he is intensely competitive, even in a group full of hyper-competitive types, and you can see it there. He’s got nowhere to go and nothing he can do and you can totally see it in how his normal Mr. calm demeanor is gone and he’s just VIBRATING with frustration.

And yeah, the contrast between that and the quiet beauty around him, the awesome majesty of it, was so moving. It was like an almighty power of the universe enfolding them, and them being in it and part of it and yet unable to step outside themselves and witness it even as it moved through them.

Or something. Anyway, yeah, agree.

ETA: Here’s the video:

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174391793096.

Here are the standings after adding in the (double) points from Leg 9:

Dongfeng 50+10=60
Mapfre 53+6=59
Brunel 42+15=57
Akzonobel 36+12=48
Vestas 28+8=36
Scallywag 27+2=29
TTToP 22+4=26

There are two short (single points) legs remaining, where boats get 1 point for finishing, plus 1 point for each competitor they beat, plus a bonus point for first place. So: first = 8 points, second = 6, third = 5, etc.

There is also a single bonus point for the team that has the lowest elapsed time over the race as a whole, which at this point looks like it will be going to Dongfeng. So give them an extra point.

Finally, there’s a tiebreaker based on the in-port race standings, which currently are exactly the same as the overall standings except with MAPFRE and Dongfeng switched; i.e., MAPFRE first and Dongfeng second.

So for Brunel to take first place overall they would need to gain 5 points on Dongfeng and 3 points on MAPFRE over the next two legs. Not inconceivable, especially if one of those two has a gear failure or some other big problem. But it’s an uphill climb.

Brunel has been very strong lately. The combination of Bouwe’s experience and Peter’s intensity, analytic rigor, and grind-it-out incremental improvement is paying off.

I think that performance-wise the top three boats are all super-close. It could come down to tactics and luck in the remaining tricky coastal racing.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174378954991.

New overall race leader. 😀

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174359882361.

a-solitary-sea-rover:

What nobody told us about attending the stopover was that the Volvo Ocean Race sailors were just casually walking around the Race Village, mixed in with the crowds, and pretty much always willing to stop for photos with people.

It was incredible, you guys. 

 – Sophie Ciszek, at Pit Row, just after returning from the practice racing around the harbor on Thursday.

– Xabi Fernandez, same.

– Blair Tuke, I told him I had an online friend whose real name I didn’t know (@foreveralonewithfiftyyachts) from the same part of New Zealand who saw him as an inspiration and that both of us wanted to thank him for everything he’s done. So now he knows you exist, I guess.

– Okay, so this is kind of embarassing, but on Thursday after the practice racing, Turn The Tide On Plastic was docked at a slip on the opposite side of the Pit Row from all of the other boats, next to the dock that the water taxi from elsewhere in Newport was coming in at, so there weren’t as many people gathered to watch/cheer for them. I went to the end of the dock to watch and I shouted “AW YEAH TTOP!” and some of the sailors turned their heads to look. Dee Caffari actually looked up and said “What?”, so then I was really embarrassed and said, in more of a normal voice, “GO TTOP!”

So then the next day, when we were touring the Boatyard as part of the Race Village Experience, we saw Liz Wardley and when I asked if we could take a picture, she said “You’re the one who was shouting.” But she wasn’t annoyed and she liked that I liked the team and her videos of Wisdom. She said she would have to make more!

– Then when we saw Dee Caffari, she also said “You were yelling yesterday.” She was fine with it, too, and was glad that I was a fan. 

– Bouwe Bekking, this whole set were right before the Sailors’ Parade on Saturday before the In-Port Race, so there were a lot of people who wanted pictures and I didn’t get to talk as much. But they were all still really nice. 

– Kyle Langford, I said I had seen him at the America’s Cup World Series New York and he said it was a great event. Unfortunately, the person who took the picture of us caught me with this stupid expression on my face.

– Another awkward pic, I clicked the button right when Pascal Bidégorry blinked and didn’t realize until later.

– David Witt, who called his companion “the infamous” Andrew Cape.

– Martine Grael, I tried explaining “My Dad doesn’t know anything about sailing, but when he watches the videos of the arrivals, he says that your Dad and you remind him of when I come home from college so our family is rooting for you” but I was starstruck and in a hurry because of everyone else, so I think it came out sounding kind of jumbled and she may not have understood. Sorry if I seemed weird. 

– Charlie Enright, who was probably pretty tired of taking pics by this point in the stopover.

– Peter Burling, just before the Sailors’ Parade for the departure. I was actually just walking around thinking “The only person I follow closely I haven’t met yet is…” right before this, so of course I went over. 

(And yes, I am very short and they are all very tall.)

Bonus famous people:

Keep reading

This is the most awesome post ever. You must have worked really hard to get all those selfies! And your choice of faves is, of course, impeccable. 🙂👍

Oh, also: I really like the one of Pascal. It looks like he’s catching a quick nap — I’m sure he’s really good at that by now. 😜

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174276180041.

Surfing

Sophie Ciszek trims the main on MAPFRE, North Atlantic Ocean, 2018-05-25. As of the start of Leg 9 MAPFRE is in first place in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174264662281.

In the last edition of the race Sam Greenfield was the first person to fly a drone from a racing sailboat in the middle of the ocean. A few hours ago he uploaded this footage from the North Atlantic: The first time someone’s flown a drone from an ocean racer surfing in gale conditions.

It is to boggle. 😀

(Also, nice one-handed catch by Kyle WHILE CONTINUING TO DRIVE THE BOAT.)

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174263469456.

Turn the Tide on Plastic, Volvo Ocean Race Leg 9, 2018-05-25

I haven’t been obsessing in here that much about the race (not that you’d notice, unless you followed me during the last edition when I talked about it all the time). But I’ve been following it, mostly through my project to describe and tag all the “raw content” videos being uploaded off the boats. 1,087 videos so far; whew.

But I wanted to share this one. The race is winding down; they’re doing the last big ocean-crossing leg (the transatlantic). They should be finishing in Cardiff in a few days, and after that there are just two relatively short legs to decide the final results.

I love this video. It feels nostalgic after all the “washing machine” shots I’ve watched. This could have been just more of the same, but on-board reporter Martin Keruzoré manages to make it meaningful. I think he’s probably feeling similarly about the end of the race. This could be his last chance to document what it’s like on board in these conditions.

I also just really love this crew. You feel like you’re on board when you watch all the videos, and there’s something about being part of a crew that just seeps into you. I guess it’s human nature.

This crew, in particular, has been special. Coming in at the last minute with a bunch of under-30s who in many cases had no previous offshore experience, it’s been wonderful to watch them grow into the badasses they are now. Yes, they’re not super high in the standings, but they’re absolutely competing with the leaders. They are right there.

And for anyone to be out in conditions like this, racing a boat like this, is an accomplishment. I’m so proud of them. They give me hope for the future.

Personal highlights:

0:10 – Martin flexing some life into his gloved hand. It’s been *cold*. One of the boats had an iceberg on the radar last night.

0:21 – Bernardo’s face. The determination. Ugh.

0:38 – 1:15 – Liz and Bianca coiling lines in the pit. They just did a sail change, and they’re cleaning up the mess.

1:35 – Goofball Boat Mom Dee. That she’s taken a crew like this around the world, keeping them safe and in the hunt, is super-impressive to me. An icon.

2:15 – Bianca. I love comparing this shot of her to the sequence of her back on Leg 2, when her life vest deployed and Liz grabbed her and she told her mum not to worry b/c she was clipped in.

2:57 – 3:04 – Dee’s and Liz’s expressions really get me here. These two (and Martin) are the most experienced on the boat, the ones who’ve carried the most responsibility in terms of looking out for the others and getting them home safe.

So far all this footage is from inside the cabin. There’s a pair of brief interviews below with Bernardo and Bleddyn, and then Martin (the OBR, I mean) gets the waterproof housing and gets out into it with the crew. And it’s just so cool. It’s the difference between epic slomo footage of mythic heroes and heroines, and being part of it, in the midst of all that craziness and feeling that adrenaline.

4:50 – Bianca dancing. Liz on the helm joins in (b/c of course she does). Even Mr. Serious Bernardo, on the mainsheet, busts a move. How can you not love these people?

5:25 – Liz ducks a wave. Steering in these conditions is a non-stop firehose of salt water in the face. Their eyes are red and streaming when they come off the wheel.

5:35 – Liz goes into her tube stance, surfing a barrel, dude, under the cabin coaming. 😜

6:31 – The crash cam. The OBR’s editing bay has a button they can hit that will save the last few minutes of video to permanent storage. They usually leave it on the stern camera, so when you see a stern camera clip like this you know something’s coming. And… bam. Triple wipe-out. Grinder, trimmer, and helmsman, all washed into the back of the boat by a wave. It’s hard to tell, but I think that might be Lucas on the helm, Bleddyn on the sheet, and Annalise, who had the least protection and got washed the farthest, the last to resume her position on the pedestal and give a thumbs up.

So awesome.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174247610126.

OMG I know, right? How about the drone footage of the horse *at the helm*? I couldn’t not think of John Mulaney: “There’s a HORSE… on the WHEEL… of the SAILBOAT!!” 🤣

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/174246220471.

a-solitary-sea-rover:

Turn The Tide On Plastic under a double rainbow. 

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173373184786.

HAPPY #KINGSDAY! 🇳🇱

Here’s a royal drone shot from @BrunelSailing OBR @_SamGreenfield_ to celebrate #Koningsdag… 😱 pic.twitter.com/fTvSPj3Dor

— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) April 27, 2018

a-solitary-sea-rover:

Drone shot of Team Brunel underway.

Sam showing off. Here’s the youtube version:

Probably just a me thing, but I kind of wish he’d used the actual audio rather than dubbing in the soothing sound of the sea. I mean, I like this version fine. I just wish I could be right there with the actual whiny drone noise. But I understand why they rarely leave it in.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173365869456.

I think you could do it with the videos from TTToP alone.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173365641276.

colinekeruzore:

Amazing day onboard Dongfeng Race Team | Itajaí 🇧🇷

📷Jeremie Lecauday

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173149328976.

I haven’t been obsessing as much about the Volvo, at least not here on Tumblr, this time around. But I’ve been following the race closely as part of my project to tag and describe all the “Raw Content” videos that have been uploaded from the boats.

So it was a blow to learn today that John Fisher, crewmember on Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, had gone overboard in rough conditions in the Southern Ocean west of Cape Horn and is presumed lost.

It’s a hazard all the sailors talked about, including John. In a video in Leg 4 he talked about his memories of being a boy going to the Solent to see the Whitbread racers depart. Although he had extensive ocean racing experience, this was the 48-year-old’s first time in the Volvo.

“It isn’t for everyone. But you should always challenge yourself,” he said.

Videos from the race in which John appeared: http://vor.jbcsystems.com/person/john-fisher.html

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/172298793576.

lies:

Two kinds of people. :-)

Source

Before the start of the 2014/15 edition of the race. Stacey and Sophie are both competing again in this edition.

Stacey is aboard Vestas 11th Hour Racing, now returned to the race after retiring from Leg 4 and missing Legs 5 and 6 due to the collision and fatality they were involved in during the approach to Hong Kong. They are currently ranked 5th overall, and are in 6th on the live Leg 7 tracker as the boats head south along the coast of New Zealand.

Sophie is aboard MAPRE, currently ranked 1st overall and leading the fleet on Leg 7.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171997822076.

lies:

Sophie Ciszek, Team SCA, interviewed by Leighton OConner before the start of Leg 1. Source.

Before the start of the 2014/15 edition of the race.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171985945416.

Sophie Ciszek: Unproblematic Fave [source]

Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, 2017-12-16. As of the start of Leg 7, MAPFRE holds the overall lead in the race.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171973904211.

a-solitary-sea-rover:

Go Team TTOP!

Not having Martin is a big deal; he was basically their teacher and reliable voice of experience in the pit when they were a bunch of kids, some of them never really having gone offshore before. Now they’re going into what’s arguably the scariest leg of the race — down to the ice limit, across the Southern Ocean, and around Cape Horn — without their mentor.

They’re not the the same kids that started Leg 1. They’ve raced halfway around the world, including 6500 miles through the Southern Ocean from Cape Town to Melbourne back in Leg 3. But this is a little like the third act in a movie when the plucky heroes have to stand up and show what they’re made of.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171964777041.

Boats Deserve Worthy Names >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News:

a-solitary-sea-rover:

The poet in me absolutely agrees with Damian Christie’s editorial here, boats named for sponsors in major events seem dull and unromantic compared to some of the more poetic names their predecessors had. At the same time, however, I realize that those poetically-named-boats were typically backed by single wealthy individuals in a time when participation in sailing was even more restricted than it is today, and that in the corporate era many people from comparatively humbler backgrounds have been able to participate in these events by recruiting such sponsors with the caveat that they name their boats after them. 

Perhaps typical teams with brand names that are themselves poetic-sounding, such as Artemis and Luna Rossa, and two-part names that are half-brand, half-original, like Kilcullen Voyager-Team Ireland and Sun Hung Kai Scallywag, are the best compromises possible at present.

It’s a gross disappointment that the names of boats in global events like the Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup – even down to a domestic regatta like the Superfoiler series in Australia – are little more than unmemorable, unflattering billboards for their sponsors.

I thought I was relatively familiar with the VOR teams in this edition but if you asked me to rattle them off on my fingers, the only one I could automatically name is Scallywag for the joint Hong Kong/Australian entry – and that’s not even its official name! In fact, I quite like Scallywag as a name for a boat – it’s certainly better than Sun Hung Kai team!

In the Superfoiler series, we have unedifying names like Euroflex, IDTech and Kleenmaid, which are mere sponsor names. Considering Euroflex has a ‘dream trio’ of Australian superstars – Glenn Ashby, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen – flying on the foiler, you’d think a combination like that would be worthy of a more dynamic name!

The same is true of the America’s Cup in recent times (with a few notable exceptions, eg Alinghi, Luna Rossa, Artemis). Most people would know the 2017 Cup winner as Team New Zealand – but the boat’s actual name was Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand).

Interesting side note: The boat that actually won the last edition of the Volvo was the only one with a proper name. Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing was the team that won, and in the video coverage they always called the boat that, but in fact the boat was named Azzam (Arabic for “Determination”), the same as the Volvo 70 Ian raced in the 2011-12 edition of the race.

The Volvo 70 Azzam was destroyed in a fire in 2015, but the Volvo 65 formerly known as Azzam is still racing: She’s now Scallywag. 🙂

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171956544831.

kaiyves replied to your post “Please tell me that “completely fucked” is a Pascal meme, because in…”

Is it “completely”? I remembered it as “absolutely”, but then I have bad memory.

The original video (which was not bleeped) was pulled down, but this version exists still on youtube:

My video description from the obsessive spreadsheet (747 video descriptions and counting):

With Charles at the helm, Dongfeng gybes from port gybe to starboard as dawn is breaking. Slomo of the crew working in the cockpit. We then see them gybing back to port? Sunrise. Then they’re on starboard again. Jack, sitting in the cockpit, talks about the tactical situation and the remainder of the leg. “We’ll find out in two hours at the next sched report. Everyone’s a bit anxious for that.” Pascal, at the nav station, looks at the latest sched. He rubs his face. On deck, Dongfeng is sailing on starboard gybe around midday. Marie, sitting on the cabin: “I think it is not really good. We did a mistake, maybe, gybing too late. It’s not a good moment to talk to Pascal. We have to let him… alone.” Pascal stands in the cockpit, reading from a piece of paper. Marie and Horace stand close to him; Darryl steers. Pascal: “MAPFRE is 89 miles at 244.” Marie: “Eighteen, uh, eighteen, uh…” Darryl: “Eighty-NINE.” Marie: “Eighty-nine!” Pascal: “We are fucked. [beeped in FB video] Darryl: "We are what?” Pascal: “We are fucked. We are completely fucked.” Stu: “Well, well, well. Three holes in the ground. I’ve seen some very strange stuff happen out here on the ocean. It’s never over till it’s over… Nothing we can do about it now, except keep sailing our boat. Who knows what might happen.” [NOTE: This video does not appear in the Raw Content feed. I’m taking this from the version posted on the VolvoOceanRace YouTube channel, and taking the time of it from the time of the two stills posted to the Raw Content feed showing the same events.]

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171956262926.

Haha. I’ve definitely seen it immortalized on the Sailing Anarchy forums in someone’s sig. But you’re right; that needs the meme treatment so Tumblr can enjoy it properly.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/171935498876.