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CN: (Laughter) No, probably not as many words, but I can tell you they are certainly loud and very clear – and very much to the point to try to bounce people out of the pattern they are in… SH: Did everyone helm in the strong stuff? CN: No, it was myself, Luke, Nicolai and Justin in the big stuff. When the conditions are OK there will be six drivers, Martine, Simeon, everyone – but once it starts blowing over 25-30kt in the nighttime it is just the four of us. SH: Broaches or Chinese gybes… CN: Yep, two or three pretty big broaches but thankfully no Chinese gybes. I can tell you we have a very solid plan if we Chinese gybe, which we have all talked through over many meetings. #1 is the prevention of it, #2 is how to get out of it. SH: What role does fear play in these circumstances? CN: With our team we haven’t gone into a Chinese gybe. I have had probably two in my career and I still remember them quite clearly! So you can tell people and tell them, but until they have one they don’t realise the scale of what can happen so it is hard to get through just how bad it can go.
FACNOR LOCKS
Most of this fleet have had one and they have also put a lid on it pretty quickly. So not fear really – but apprehension, for sure. For me if it was fear I wouldn’t be doing it, I wouldn’t be able to function properly. SH: How is the helming position in these conditions? CN: The rim load is OK when the boat is in balance and gives pretty good feedback. Yes, we get hit by water and could we be fully protected under some form of canopy? Well, we could also be sitting down below with the autopilot on… There are all sorts of levels of questions here. I like this set-up; it is hard, it is difficult, and it is not for everyone, and I think that is a very appealing part of it. SH: And what are the physios ashore dealing with this time? CN: Actually, as we got closer to Europe most people flew home to see their regular physiotherapists. There are always a lot of general bumps and bruises; we had a broken nose on leg 7, a burn, some cuts to the head, plus the tendinitis that most of the drivers have, maybe a crook elbow or shoulder. SH: How are the sails holding up? As Mapfre found out, it’s very easy to destroy a mainsail down south… CN: Yes, but they lost some mast track so in order to keep the sail up they had to carry very high cunningham loads and that ended up contributing significantly to the problem. The sails have held up very, very well here – incredibly well.
> ONLY ONE TRIGGER LINE TO LOCK OR UNLOCK > SAFE LOCKING & UNLOCKING > EASY INSTALLATION ON MAST > EXTERNAL & INTERNAL RANGES > A LOT OF OPTIONS & TERMINALS
We were broaching in 45kt of breeze. When you hear the sails flap normally it’s like plywood flapping, but when you are broaching in 45-50kt they sound like thin plastic flapping really hard. And then you look up at the rig shaking around and you think how on earth can all of this stuff stay in one piece. But then you bear away for three or four minutes to cool things down and grind the sails back in and off you go again, back on your bike! SH: The VOR is all about managing resources – diesel, sails, water, food, people. One thing you don’t want to do is to call people up every half hour when the breeze increases. How did the other crew, particularly Martine and Emily’s judgment improve on leg 7? CN: I guess they look at me being the oldest onboard, and figure that if I can do it they don’t have a choice. Also part of this race is it’s almost linear – the younger you are the more sleep you need… So it is very rare to get young guys and girls who can cope with this demand and lack of sleep and still function properly. This crew coped really well – and with the ice gates on legs 3 and 7 where we were gybing every couple of hours, that really adds a strain to the whole situation.
Gybing these boats in 30-45kt is a massive manoeuvre, and doing that in the cold, plus shifting heavy gear in a big sea state, these are the kind of manoeuvres that most sailors may do only once in their lifetime, and we are doing them every hour, with a high level of fatigue, in pretty remote places. SH: Since your crash on leg 3, has your choreography changed in a heavy-weather gybe? CN: Yep, absolutely. We are much more structured and disciplined but we still had a few gybes that went wrong on leg 7 with a small broach coming out of them – but not an uncontrolled situation like the one in leg 3.
22 SEAHORSE
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