Forest
Gump once wisely said: "life is like a box of chocolate, you never know
what you're gonna get." That could never be more true than today.
Except our chocolate got squished as well; it's still good, we still
love it, but it's just been a bit sticky and messy the last 24hours. Last
night, as we happily made our way South West, we got caught under our
own personal rain cloud that sucked every ounce of wind. Our "parade"
was both literally and figuratively rained on. By morning, we were 90
miles behind Mapfre, and by 1pm, we were another 49 miles behind. Unsure
if "gutted" gives the best description of the mood of all of us on
board-- but it felt like we had all been stabbed in the stomach.
"It's
frustrating," Abby said. "It's hard because you're sailing the boat
fast and really well, but sometimes you just get unlucky. And we got
unlucky."
We all love to sail fast; sailing slow is like nails on a
chalkboard for Annie. But sometimes you can't help but sail slow because
you're missing the key ingredient: wind. The hardest part is, we base
our plan around getting the wind-- we're sailing smart—and so it’s tough
when the wind doesn't do its job and show up.
"We have no reason we
should not be with the pack," Sally said. "We've proved that we can
sail amongst the pack. We've just had some bad luck."
"I'm staying
in the moment," Sally continued. "Yes, it sucks now, but it means
focusing on what conditions we have now-- reading and watching the
clouds, not fast forwarding too far; looking at what we have in front of
us and sailing with that."
This morning, as we attempted to gybe
South, West, and East-- anywhere but our wind hole!-- the comments began
flooding in. "Go go go girls! Sweden is proud of you!" "Keep the faith.
All good things come to those who wait! Sail hard and fast when it
comes." "Keep using that killer instinct that got you on the team to
start with! You're doing so well! Your mentor would be proud of you!
We're
all proud of you!" "You are in the race of your lives! Constant
learning and improvement, stay focused, always looking for your
opportunities. Have fun and enjoy the ride. We love ya'll no matter
what.... WE BELIEVE! Your time is coming." "In the darkest mines you
find the brightest diamonds."
And, our favorite: "Thank you for keeping on fighting - Keep Fighting On"-- Magnus
We
are fighting. We are determined. We are focused. Yes, today was not
easy, but we did not allow ourselves to slow down-- we sailed with the
conditions given and sailed at 100% performance.
"We have to think
long term and I'm used to 15 minute match races," Annie said. "But I've
also come back from 1.5 leg loss in a 2 leg race, to win. It takes
concentration and focus, and we have that. I have faith in us."
So,
as I've said before: don't rule us out. Don't expect anything from the
best from us. Don't stop believin'. There is still thousands of miles
left, and with a newly added "Ice Gate" in the Southern Ocean, the next
couple of days racing may get even closer. We are fighting and that's
the most important part. After all, who knows what chocolates we'll have
tomorrow...
We work hard, we sail hard, we are TEAM SCA. (www.teamsca.com)
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