Rio 2016 - Sailors talk of Life at the Extreme on the Atlantic Ocean

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 13 Aug 2016 The Mens and Womens 470 crews were suffering the mixed emotions of survival of an extreme test by nature, the cold, and for some elation at their placings, after Thursday's battle for survival on the second day of racing for the Mens and Womens 470 out on the Atlantic Ocean.

In conditions that looked more out of the Volvo Ocean Race, than an Olympic sailing regatta, crews battled 20kt plus winds and Atlantic Ocean rollers that towered up to four metres.

Certainly the Volvo Ocean Race catchcry of Life at the Extreme is not a phrase one would generally associate with the Sailing Olympics.

Two races were sailed in both Mens and Womens classes, in extreme condition that were probably only seen on the final day of the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao Chine. However there the waves were only a third of the size..

Sail-World's NZ Editor Richard Gladwell cought up with a few of the sailors and crews in the Mixed Zone, after the race on Thursday.

'It was a crazy day out there', said Jo Aleh. 'It was the biggest contrast you could find from Wednesday (when the 470's enjoyed extreme light shifting winds on Guanabara Bay).

'Today the winds were as much as we could handle and the waves were as much as we could handle,' said Aleh who seems fazed by very little, if anything.

'It was on edge, for us in the 470 - but it was awesome sailing', said the three time Olympian and defending Olympic Champion.

'We got airborne a few times, and the boat does not land well,' she laughed.

'Today it was about not making mistakes and keeping Polly out on the wire. All the crews were getting washed off.'

Crew Polly Powrie confirmed her skippers comments. 'Some of them we got fully launched. Hanging onto the wire in that condition is an effort, but it was great!'

'We have had two days of really challenging sailing,' and it has been good added Aleh.

'We don't change out approach from day to day. Every race is about doing as well as you can.'

'We don't think safety first on a day like today,' said Powrie. 'We have a race plan and try to stick to it.'

'There was an element of trying to keep the mast in the air today, but it was manageable.'

British 470 skipper, Luke Patience was laughing as he talked withe the media. 'It's a mindset thing,' he said talking about the difference in conditions from Wednesday and Thursday. 'Just a methodical approach and nothing too heroic - but not too passive either. Somewhere in the middle - very boring sailing. We'll wait for the big risk taking moments later in the regatta. We came out of today with 20 less points than we took out of yesterday, so that is very good.'

When questioned about the wave heights, put at up to four metres, Patience responded.

'They were the size of houses.'

'When you were in the trough, you cannot see another boat - even the tip of their mast. And wehn the swell is rolling towards you - you can imagine a wee front door. There's a window, there's a front room, there's a kitchen. Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2, sort of thing.'

'Then there's the roof and chimney.'

'They were massive, absolutely massive.'

A very cold Paul Snow-Hansen and crew Dan Willcox (NZL).

'Lots happened out there, but none of them particular good for us,' was Snow-Hansen's summary of the day.

'There was big waves and lots of breeze,' said Willcox taking over the interview. 'We had 15kts gusting 20kts'

'The swell was bouncing off the wall (refering to the towering shoreline),' explained Snow-Hansen.

'It was pretty full on everywhere. There were a lot of crazy waves making boat handling very tricky, but we managed not to capsize.'

'We'll take some learnings from today,' said Willcox.

'Like not getting knocked from the trapeze, staying high on the wire. The waves were pretty full on. So lots of crews were getting knocked off. We tried to avoid capsizing and doing the basics right.

'A lot of boats capsized, we were one of them. We came into the bottom mark and there was a Spanish boat parked in front of us, and we had nowhere to go.'

'In the second race we got caught coming off the line and got out of phase.'