This was a short race… And we were back of the pack again. So far we have been in last, second to last, second to last, first, first, second to last… We win or we lose and almost nothing in between. I tend to not get caught up so much in what place we are in but more how we are performing compared to our former selves. Maybe it comes from a lifting background where I compare myself against who I was yesterday, last week, or last year and not against other lifters.
Despite coming in second to last, I feel like we sailed really well. We made some bad calls and got stuck in a wind hole and currents were not always working in our favor but I couldn’t help but notice how well we worked together. We were still short crew members because of some dropouts so we only had 14 plus our skipper and AQP opposed to the 18-20 that most teams had.
There were two instances where I was so impressed with us. One night, we got an hourglass in our Code 1. Without any bickering or debate or much dialogue at all, we had it dropped and our Code 2 flying within minutes. This is something that probably would have cost us upwards of 30 minutes if not more on leg 1. We seamlessly fell into positions, each person taking up the post nearest them and when we were all in position, dropped our twisted Code 1 without fuss and hoisted the next sail that we had ready to go.
Later on, we had been contemplating keeping our Code 2 up or dropping and hoisting our Code 1 because the wind had died down. The deck was calm and I remember being on trim and watching the tack somehow trip. I remember seeing Susan out of my peripheral vision casually point to the now disconnected tack and say something along the lines of “there it goes.” We alerted the rest of our watch that the tack had blown and took up our positions and seamlessly dropped the 2 we had been contemplating and hoisted the 1.
I love seeing how we have progressed and hope we can continue this trend and bring our new leggers up to speed quickly. This race was a hot one and reminded me a lot of the challenges I faced during Leg 1 Race 2 from Cadiz, Spain to Punta Del Este, Uruguay including the heat. It was a taste of what is to come on Race 7 as we prepare to cross back over the equator. Our sleeping bags are stowed back away and we are using sheets and living in shorts and tees again. Drinking water is becoming a priority and we run our fans 24/7 while working to conserve boat energy. I will need to dig deep to embrace something I am not too fond of enduring on this next one. I will let you know how it goes!
Loved what you read, share this post to your favorite social website!