Date 16 May 2005
Location 150 miles south of the Equator
Weather Sunny and showers
Heading 320
As we get close to the equator and approximately half way in distance to Boston I have had the chance to reflect on the previous couple of weeks. It is a story of clear development of a team that I was not prepared for when we left Cape Town.
The first week we left Cape Town and had some great sailing within sight of the other boats. I had a streaming cold that left me with an ear infection, but I was happy we had sailed well and did not have a sewing circle started like some of the rest of the fleet. But I definitely wasn't focused on the job in hand of racing to Boston.
I was noticing a change in mood and spirit of the crew and some conversations were disappointing to hear and I was left feeling very frustrated. Unfortunately during week two we were sailing with a poled out headsail for much of the week and this was leaving the crew bored and restless. We made some tactical errors by sailing across the fleet and adding some extra miles. This went completely against the grain of what I have promised my crew since Sydney, that shortest course is the fastest and I will sail with the rest of the fleet. I was losing my grip on the decision making and planning of the leg and where we were sailing. I actually felt as if I was purely onboard to plot positions and correct any mistakes that were about to happen in any manoeuvres and then try to fix anything that was broken.
In my sorry state of feeling rather redundant, I was having a chat with a balanced member of the crew that did point out that this was a reflection on how well we have trained as a team, and I should take credit in that. This was a fair point, but one that I found hard to take onboard as I am a fairly hands on skipper and like to be involved. The trade winds have kicked me back into life again and there was no way I could keep going to Boston as miserable as I was becoming onboard. This job at the end of the day is never going to please everyone involved and so long as you are fair, everyone will endure the hardships along the way. I have had a word with myself and have accepted that you do not take this job to be liked by people; it is a job you want to get on with.
So now we are heading to Boston and I am hot on the heels of those ahead, thankfully the doldrums can have a cunning way of turning the positions on their head. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed for that to happen. From now on we sail a fast straight line and closing the rest of the fleet. And I apologise for not being on the ball from the beginning. The whole man-management and the race make-up took on a whole new level this leg and I have had to get my head around it first before I was able to address it.
As we have said before there is never a dull day at sea.
Dee Caffari/Yachting World, 16 May 2005
