Team SCA’s Stacey Jackson reviews her VOR ahead of new adventures

by Tracey Johnstone on 1 Jul 2015 After more than 40,000 miles of extreme offshore racing in the Volvo Ocean Race and two years of living a different life of being told what to do, eat, wear and say, it’s time to start a new journey for Team SCA’s Stacey Jackson.

The all-women Team SCA proved themselves early on as worthy opponents of the six all-male teams competing alongside on the one-design Volvo 65 yachts. They fought hard, reaching the podium on five occasions across the offshore and in-port races, the most outstanding result being the Lisbon to Lorient Leg 8 win.

Jackson has now joined an exclusive group; a small number of amazing women who have competed in a Volvo Ocean Race. “There are so few of us who have done the race, there will always be a connection between us,” Jackson said.

But today they go their separate ways, albeit briefly. In early August the team will reassemble in Gothenburg in time to compete in the Fastnet Race and then continue a summer racing program while they wait anxiously to find out if SCA will take up the option of sponsoring the team for the next Volvo Ocean Race which starts in 2017.

The extremely tired Jackson spent some time today reflecting on her journey and what lies ahead for the accomplished Australian sailor.

Ed: Throughout the race your message of “The difference between the impossible and the possible is merely the measure of a (wo)men’s determination” has been with you at every port. Do you still believe that?

Stacey: I think we proved that statement. We virtually did the impossible. I am very happy with the way we handled ourselves and I achieved exactly what I wanted to achieve.

Ed: Today is the finish of your contract. What happens now?

Stacey: I have no idea what happens today, that’s the weird thing because for two years we have had a contract and a schedule for every day. We have been told where to be, what uniform we need to have on and what time our meals are. And today, we are set free.

I haven’t made my schedule as yet as to what I am going to do. I have five days to kill before the next event. We are on Marstrand Island (Sweden) which is just up the coast a bit from Gothenburg and its beautiful here. There’s the Stena Match Cup going on and I know a few people racing in it including a couple of Aussie teams so I think I will just hang around and watch some of the match racing and read my book in the sun.

Ed: Taking you back to the very beginning, can you remember what you expected of the Volvo Ocean Race?

Stacey: At the beginning, even up to the start of the race, you could have watched as many videos as you wanted about it and talked about it, but until you actually did it you really didn’t have the right idea on what was going to happen. We were going out and doing something that was so new to us. Now it feels like a foreign feeling because we have lived every minute of it now.

It was probably more of an adventure than I thought it was going to be, to be honest.

Ed: Did the race live up to your expectations and more?

Stacey: It’s a different race to what it used to be in one way, but in another way it’s more exciting as the racing is so close.

For sure it has lived up to my expectations. And we have exceeded our expectations of ourselves.

I did all, but one leg of the race. The body held up. I was nervous about being injured or damaged during the race.

And then our performance. At times there was a lot of bad media about how we were doing and how we were performing. At the end of the day, if you actually look at how we did, we only came last in one leg because of course Vestas Wind wasn’t there for a lot of them.

We had a lot of little achievements throughout the race which we should be very proud of.

Ed: How much have you changed since you embarked on this journey back in September two years ago?

Stacey: Physically we went from being super strong to now being super tired, but I still feel that I am much more physically stronger person than I was in the beginning. On an emotional side and having been part of a team like this, you feel like in a good team you can achieve a lot. That is something I kind of have always known, but we proved this together in this race.

I am definitely a more patient person as well. Not that I was overly impatient, but you learn that everything, whether you have to deal with other people or a restricted space, or a frustration through the weather or how we were going on board. It was a massive, really valuable skill to have.

Ed: How are going to maintain those changes in yourself?

Stacey: You can’t have done something as big as this and forget those lessons. It’s just how we are now. And you could say the same for pretty much most of the team. I am quite proud to be able to say that. Those lessons are a massive thing to take on to whatever else I do in life.

Maybe every so often you have to step back and remember that a horrible time we were having in the Southern Ocean, or remember that time it was 45 degrees and we were hot and cranky with each other, but we had to pull it together; there are too many reminders to not do it.

The thing I am most looking forward to doing over the next few weeks and months is getting the physical condition back. You lose a lot of strength and you see it throughout the entire fleet because the only strength you are using is what you are doing on the boat. My upper body was still quite strong because we were doing a lot of grinding and lifting.

Ed: What technology was paramount to Team SCA’s program?

Stacey: I think it was the way everyone could follow the race. For Team SCA and for the company, they were chasing the coverage. They weren’t expecting us to win it. The amount of people who followed it, supported us and are die-hard Team SCA fans now, I think that has been the most valuable thing that has come out of it.

What we didn’t realise that along the way, the number we have met and helped or encouraged them to do something or kept them going through a hard time, that’s a massive thing that we have been able to give to everyone.

On the racing side, we had so much support through data analysts and technical support. Even the basic technology of the AIS tracker between the yachts which meant we could see each other and know what move to make next. In the shorter coastal races we could see boats up to 17 miles away from us and know what direction and how fast they were going. That helped keep the race close.

Our data analysis from Accenture was how we got to the level we were at when the race started and it then continued to progress. We constantly knew whether we were sailing at what boat speed percentage or performance percentage. We had a number we could constantly see.

Ed: Have you had a debrief? Has Team SCA provided you with any psychological debrief or post-race support?

Stacey: Throughout the campaign from the moment we were first interviewed we have had a team psychologist work with us and has been always been available as we needed it. We haven’t had any formal structure since the race has finished.

In Marstrand there has been a bit of a wind-down where we can hang out socially together and then we have had a debrief chat with the team manager, more working what we can work on for next time.

We have thought that might be a nice improvement for the future and I think the trainer needs to set us up with a little program for the physical.

Ed: Would you do this race again?

Jackson: Yup. In a heartbeat. I would have some more sleep first. Tiredness aside, I would go next week.

Ed: In what role?

Jackson: Definitely moving back in the boat.

It was confusing for people to watch from the outside for the last two legs as I was the bowman for the starts. I would do the starting leg inshore as I think I had the racing skills that perhaps the other bowmen didn’t so much have. I had worked previously to this campaign with Sally (Barkow), our tactician, so we kept that link going for the starts and In-Port races.

Then at the turning mark, when it became an offshore leg, that was the point at which we swapped and I became one of the two pitmen. I really enjoyed it. I bought me back into the cockpit and I got to work more with the trimmers.

For sure I would love to at least start there and keep trying to work back into the full-time trimming role as time progresses.

Ed: How are you going to switch into competing in the Women’s Match Racing World Championship which starts next week?

Stacey: I am really looking forward to that now that the Volvo is finished. These are girls I have sailed with several times before. There is no pressure on how we go. We are seriously going to try to do some good sailing and have a good time. With those goals in mind we often go well.

It’s a whole different kind of sailing. It will be fresh and new so I don’t think I will have trouble slotting in.

I’m a sucker for punishment. After the match racing I come straight home (to Australia) to do the Sydney Southport and Brisbane Keppel races on the Black Jack and then straight back to Sweden.

I’m not actually sure where this rest will be that I was talking about. Maybe September…