Life… at the extreme
Racing the fastest monohull yachts around the planet was never going to be easy. Unlike ‘normal’ sporting events which last for a few hours or sometimes a few days, the Volvo Ocean Race takes months. Months of preparation and months of applying a competitive instinct to produce the best performance from the boat by extracting the best performance from the team who sails her. It's a high level grand prix and associated with that goes the stress and demand of competition.
As this ‘match’ approaches its conclusion in Melbourne, Justin Clougher, the bow-pirate’ onboard The Black Pearl, and Knut Frostad, watch leader on the recently dismasted Brasil 1, show in their onboard missives, why this is more than just a boat race, it is a story about life… at the extreme.
The following are extracts from longer, must-read onboard email written by reflective crewmembers at different ends of the spectrum.
“Due to the length and physical demands of the event, and each leg within it, human personalities cycle up and down, randomly and often. Being able to keep a grip on these cycles is a helpful thing, over the many months mingled with multicultural crews and destinations. It smoothes out the peaks and fills in the valleys!! Emotive adjustments come in many shades and reasons, and defy logic sometimes.
“You are out here busting your chops, absolutely smoking along, everything hunky dory, and the boat alight, nobody could be sailing better, you're in a solid groove and the numbers are sensational, yet, the sched comes through and you lost 10 miles to boat X and 12 miles to boat Y . How the hell could that be? How could they be going THAT much better......VALLEY, downer.
Conversely, you are tripping over everything, having a shocker in shift management, and just hopelessly missing sail selection, you've torn sails, broken the pole, filled your boots with water, and everything is a mess, YET you manage to put 2 miles on the whole fleet... Blimey, what are THEY doing??...COOL, lift.
“The build-up and start of this race is a huge pump session, everybody believes they are looking good to win, all are fired up. What happens next is somebody sets the pace, and all the others have to knuckle down, gather strength and focus to get past the leader. In THIS event, you have to indextain this focus and belief for nine months. It’s a long time. The leader has to bear the stress of being in front with an enormous amount to lose this time, which is stressful.
“On the Black Pearl we are already coping with larger than normal moral testing issues this early in the race, which have required large amounts of physical and mental attention. Add to this, lives can be at stake, even your own, as you put it blindly in someone else’s hands, and they in turn accept this responsibility. Across the fleet we can see a few of our brothers are doing the same. All sorts of technical and human challenges have appeared and we feel their pain.
“It’s testing stuff and by no means easy sometimes, to keep applying pressure to one-self, to keep driving pressure toward the leader.
“However, there are glorious moments too, which are hugely rewarding. Big days on the race course, doing BIG miles are very stimulating, exciting, and a physical blow-out. Confidence booster in the boat and crew.
“Slow days on the race course are frustrating beyond belief, no matter how much you gain. Sailing in circles drives you nuts.” Justin Clougher
From a ‘heart-broken, but not beaten’ Brasil 1, Knut Frostad writes:
“I am just back inside after my two hours watch with Andy (Meiklejohn). We're only two on deck now, and everyone gets plenty of sleep. The atmosphere onboard is quiet. Sometimes we have our moments of fun and laughter, but especially at night, it's a quietness and very strong feeling of sadness and despair onboard. Why did this happen? Why did the turnbuckle fail? Why now? Why step on someone who is already down?
“It feels like ever since we had to return to South Africa for the deck repair, we have been fighting with a knife against an enemy who had a gun pointing at our head, and now he decided to fire.
“We managed to build so much hope and dug so deep for the last motivation after repairing the boat. We were going to finish this leg whatever happened and we where going to do it with pride and give any chance of getting back the miles lost, our best shot. And then, bang! Something completely beyond our control cuts our wings off, and we are left with no hope of scoring any more points on this leg. Now our only hope is to make it in time for the inshore race in Melbourne.”
Both emails will be distributed shortly after this position report and can be read at www.volvooceanrace.org. Knut Frostad’s email includes the full account of exactly what happened when the mast came down on Brasil 1 and the heroics of Andrea Fonseca as he pulled on a wet suit and diving gear and struggled in the water to cut the sails free from the sinking mast in order to save them for the rest of the race.
Lizzie Green Press Officer at race headquarters:
Tel: +44 1489 554 832, Mob: +44 7801 185 320
Email: lizzie.green@volvooceanrace.org
Sophie Luther Press Assistant at race headquarters
Mob: +44 7956 285548 email: sophie.luther@volvooceanrace.org
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