Volvo Ocean Race- Sally Barkow - from the Olympics to the Volvo
by Sail-World on 19 Jan 2015
Team SCA - Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town InPort Race
Rick Tomlinson / Team SCA
Kaenon's Steve Rosenberg talks with Sally Barkow before the start of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, on how she made the transition from Olympic sailing to offshore and the woman's crew aboard Team SCA.
A skilled match racer, Barkow has been on and off the Olympic circuit for the past 10 years. She represented the USA in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, skippering in the Yngling Womens keelboat event. She was US Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year in 2005 and 2007.
What motivated this Olympic, dinghy racer to try her hand at offshore ocean racing?
The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the ultimate races you can do in the world of sailing, I'm sure it has crosses every professional sailors mind at one point or another. When the news came that there would be a sponsored all-women’s team it was not something I was going to pass up. Like anything in life, when you have a chance to actually make that distant pipe dream a reality, you don't let it slip by.
Why do you think there aren’t more women – particularly American women – pursuing ocean racing? And do you believe your involvement will inspire young women to give a try?
There are two other Americans on the boat, Corrina Halloran our on board reporter, and Sara (Hastreiter), a new name to sailing, with five years of experience (and 40,000 nautical miles before Team SCA) from Wyoming.
Yes, not the experiences American women sailors that we are used to seeing in the media. I think this project had a slightly different start than 'normal' Volvo or ocean racing campaigns and gave an opportunity for less experienced women to quickly learn the race/boat/sport. I think this could be the beginning of more women to get involved with ocean racing and the more experience that develops from this the greater chance women will have to be successful in future ocean races.
What’s it like to be part of a multi-national, all-female team of 12 co-existing on a carbon shell with no stops or timeouts for over three weeks at a time? Any particular challenges that stand out?
It has its challenges similar to any other team I have been apart of. I am sure similar to the men's teams we are competing against. It is a small space and the conditions are usually extreme and lack any comfort, but this team is made up of a group of very professional women and it continues to surprise me how that is always the bottom line, no matter how hard things get, the end goal prevails.
The team took a while to be completed, a full years time before enough girls where signed on to fill the boat. This was partly due to the trial process, but also the coaches and management were pretty selective to be sure they were filling the boat with the correct personality and attitudes for this race.
Only one of the girls had done the race in full before and that was over 10 yrs ago, so it was safe to say no one really had much experience as to what this race entails. It was important to rely on the veterans, our coaches 15+ years of experience between them. With the drawn out process of selecting the team it means we are still relatively a new group still leaning what challenges lie ahead.
Going into Leg 1, how would you describe your mindset? As reality unfolded, what were your greatest surprises experienced – positive and negative / high and low?
My mindset for leg 1 was simply. I am ready to race.I have prepared for a lot of races in my past and this fell into the same lines.
Is the boat ready to go? Everyone has there areas of responsibility, mine happens to be the food on board. Packing and preparing take time, but I had started this process a few month prior and had 2-3 others helping when it came to shopping and packing so things weekend smoothly.
Is the team ready to go? We were as ready as we could be, some last minute position changes left us a little on the back foot but we new if they worked out it would be a good thing for the future and it was a long race.
Is my kit ready to go? Packing my kit bag is sort of the final metal prep for the leg. I like to do it not rushed but kind at the last minute, then you are sure you know what you have and it is the best decision relative tot the weather etc.
Do we know the course? We have a final team meeting for weather, course, last minute change the night before and a check in the morning of the start.
We were ready as we could have been on land. The only thing we were missing was actual experience of doing the race, worth its weight in gold.
Did you experience and truly difficult personal challenges on Leg 1? And if so, how did you persevere through them?
There are highs and lows to and race, and everyone feels better ending on a high note. That was the sum of leg 1. We ended on a high note, lucky passing Mapfre in the last few hours, but there were many lows or struggles along the way.
It seems like the race is split into two categories, where you go, and how you get there.
Where you go is based on weather, study, angles, destination, other boats. you have to trust the ones who are putting in the time, like the Navigator and Skipper on this to be making good decisions, much like you do what a tactician says on a short course, they have the whole picture in their heads and will ask for help if need more information or sometimes if a tough decision.
How you get there is everyone else responsibility. The number one goal is to make the boat go as fast as possible. One challenge we faced here was the angle we were choosing to sail. There is always a compromise to going the straight line to the destination and going slightly off course but going faster. This is also experience and I am sure will get better as we go. We also had some difficulty doing one particular sail change, sometime this happens with bran new sails, which we had and were trying to keep as new as possible before the start. again, this will only sort it self out with time.
Personally I get down when we have made a lose, and I know I need to not spread this through the boat, usually I turn to my iPod for some music to try to take my mind off it. other than not winning, I did not have any real personal challenges
You’ve always required corrective vision. Why have you chosen Kaenon prescription products for this adventure over using contact lenses? What are the advantages or disadvantages of wearing glasses ocean racing?
After high school I discovered I could see better with glasses. I was always squinting and found it hard to see distance. Having glasses in school was helpful. but once I went to college half my time was spent on the water racing, therefore I started wearing perception sunglasses. It made a huge difference in my sailing, being able to see the wind on the water clearer and seeing what was happening up the course better lead to better tactical decisions. But I struggled with getting the correct lenses in the pairs I had. and the ones that worked only lasted a few weeks before the salt and wear broke them. I ordered my first pair of Kaenon's after college when I was now campaigning for the 2004 Olympics. I have never worn a different kind of sunglass since.
I find it hard to wear contact lenses because I have an astigmatism and the shape of my eye seems to rotate the lenses around sometimes driving me mad. For the Volvo, I think if your responsible enough o keep track of your glasses then it is am advantage. You get excess water and hard spray in your eyes most days and any protection is very welcome.
At night I wear clear prescription lenses in my sunglass frame and some of the girls also now have a clear pair of lenses they can wear just to keep the salt out!
Now that you’ve had a chance to catch your breath a bit while sitting out Leg 2 and watching your teammates through the internet like the rest of us – do you have different perceptions or observations from outside the fishbowl? If so, will your approach to Leg 3 and the rest of the race be different?
Yes a very different perspective sitting here for leg 2, can t say i am enjoying it like i probably should be. you spend a log time preparing to race and then the race goes on without you, is hard to get in the correct mental space. But I hope it is good for the long run of the team and if we do keep rotating perhaps we will be stronger in the end.
I will find out in a few days if I am on for Leg 3 and my preparation will be much like Leg 1, except more studying and hearing from the girls what they have improved on in leg 2.
Where were you when you heard the news about Team Vestas – and what were your initial thoughts? Seeing the imagery and reading the reports that are coming out at this stage, have a different impact on you or how you might approach the next leg?
I was at home, and had been watching the tracker and notice that Vestas had turned 180 degrees in the wrong direction, but just thought it was a computer glitch or they suddenly have to avoid something. the next update the boat did not move, something was up… a few more ours the news came out and my heart sank.
I don’t think this changes too mush for the rest for Leg 3, I know all teams have been helpful in offering whatever support shore side they can the Vestas, I hope they figure something out to get back on the water.
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