Volvo Ocean Race - A warm welcome to Brazil

by Team SCA on 8 Apr 2015 2014 - 15 Volvo Ocean Race - Team SCA crossed the finishing line in Itajai at 13:52:15 UTC to a rapturous reception from family, friends and an army of local supporters.

It has been a long and trying leg for the team who had more than their fair share of trials and tribulations on the 6,776-mile leg from Auckland.

“We have had a series of challenges on this leg. We have had everything, starting with breaking our FRO, then a big wipeout, breaking battens in the main, hitting unidentified objects and taking the rudder out. The conditions were pretty hard and everyone is very tired,” commented Sam Davies, skipper, shortly after arrival.

“We knew that we could only do this together as a team and accept the frustrations and setbacks together. After a few days rest we will look back on that and realize what we learnt.” She concluded.

Six days after the leg start, the team suffered a Chinese gybe, which destroyed their FRO sail, a key sail for the Southern Ocean conditions. From that moment on, the reduced sail options meant that the team struggled to keep pace with their competitors.

For the navigator Libby Greenhalgh, it meant planning the best routing while handicapped. “That is the thing I found the hardest, to lose a sail that we fundamentally needed to have to get us to Cape Horn and then assess the situation without it. Our opportunities were so limited. In some ways it was interesting and challenging as we had to adapt as we went along but you have to cover so many more miles and you don’t cover those fast enough.”

For Annie Lush, it was a tough leg but on reflection there were a lot of lessons learnt.

“A part of me would like to race this leg again. We made it and another boat didn’t. That was our goal and I guess that it was our best position yet. In time this leg will be something that we laugh about in the bar, so a lot of stories to tell.”