| At sea. Volvo Ocean Race: ABN AMRO TWO in a vicious circle |
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| Monday, 10 April 2006 | |
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Simon Fisher – navigator: It seems we are caught in the most vicious of vicious circles. Each sched we lose a few miles as they guys ahead get better pressure. The next sched they get the pressure even earlier still as we are further behind and so the story has gone now for as many days as I care to remember. I think in the last 24 hours I have been through the full range of emotions and yet I still don't feel any better. The temptation to shout and throw things at the computer is at times is massive, but we all know temper tantrums don't do you any good whatsoever! I don't think if you are competitive you ever learn to deal with losing though. I guess that is what keeps you competitive. Sadly the only answer right now is to be patient. At some stage, hopefully in the not too distant future, we should start matching the boats ahead of us and then maybe even start gaining some of the lost miles back. We wait, hour by hour, for fresher wind and a better angle so we can get the bigger gear on but each grib file seems to put this point further away. So once again patience becomes the name of the game and the code zero and big reachers remain safely packed away on the rail. What is perhaps most frustrating of all is that we are actually sailing the boat really fast - the numbers have looked really good for days now, we are consistently out performing the speeds we have achieved in previous legs, the guys are all pushing hard to try and catch up - on deck there is a mood of quiet determination. This is perhaps why it is so demoralizing to see us losing in the sched every 6 hours. The position reports have now been nicknamed the "depression report" as it is hard to remember back to when they actually delivered some good news! However, I would hate to paint a completely negative picture of ABN AMRO TWO. Life goes on, there is always the same level of humour on deck and the usual topics of conversation are covered with as much enthusiasm as ever, apart from being sixth, life isn't so bad. On this leg we have been incredibly spoilt with the wildlife we have seen, right at a point when the ocean had seemed it’s most lifeless, a few sperm whales came swimming past the boat at a very modest pace, allowing us to get a really good look at them (read also panic and avoid!!). On more than one occasion we have been the companion for a lonely sea-bird, sometimes for hours on end, our wake aiding him in his fishing efforts. So, it is back to the waiting game. No doubt in 4 hours time I will be sat nervously in front of this computer to see if our fortunes have at last changed, and if not... well, then we wait some more. Cheers |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 10 April 2006 ) |
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