Interview with Lisa McDonald Volvo Ocean race womens team skipper

by Volvo Ocean race media on 9 Mar 2002 Lisa McDonald - Skipper Amer Sports Too - pre-start interview leg five
Volvo Ocean Race

Q: I understand it’s just the one change for the next leg with Melissa
Purdie is coming back, is that right?

A: That is right, at least that’s our intention at this stage. A few
crazy phone calls in the middle of the night came from Melissa, she’s on
her way from the States. She’s been doing Olympic training in Miami and
there has been a bit of a hiccup with passports and visas and they’ve been
trying to tell her to fly to Miami and present her situation and try to
get a Brazilian visa to join us. That would have put her here on Monday or
Tuesday which is a little bit late for us… So we will try to pull a few
strings and ensure that she’ll arrive in time. Hopefully, she’ll arrive
here in good shape, so that we can do a little crew training and get the
team ready for Saturday’s start.

Q: Let’s look forward to Saturday’s start of a very different leg. You’ve
just been through the Southern Ocean, freezing conditions, and all of
sudden the heat gets turned up for the next two or three weeks. Are you
looking forward to this leg?

A: Yes, and the heat is on in more than one way. From here on, the race
changes significantly in that each leg in its own right is quite unique in
that it’s got its own wind conditions, which effects the way you sail the
boat and set the boat up. We have just gone from endurance conditions –
enduring weather in its extremeties – to survive those extremeties,
whereas now, it will be more short-course, tactical – looking ahead, but
short-sighted in that you’re focussing on the few days ahead and how
changeable the weather is. We’re going from one side of the equator to
almost the same spot on the other side of the equator. So we’ll all be
looking at how to get across the equator as best as we can and there are
also lots of thunderstorms around here in Brazil, it can be quite
turbulent which we remember from last time. So we’re trying to look at
that and have a good game plan for Saturday.

Q: Should these conditions perhaps suit the girls a little bit more rather
than bashing through the Southern Ocean?

A: Well, they might do! We had quite a good race when we came down here
with both SEB and djuice. We were all pretty close for a significant
amount of time and changing positions a little bit for a couple of days in
and around the Ilha Fernando, which is only up the north coast from where
we are leaving here. So we should be there in about a week, and I think
the boats will all be quite similar and quite close together then, so
it’ll be quite interesting to see how it turns out.

Q: So is Miranda [Merron] out double-checking all the weather systems at
the moment?

A: Well, she is. We’re working well together and she actually did a race
from France to Brazil only a few months ago, so she’s quite fresh on
knowledge on the coastal areas and we’re hoping to use that to our
advantage.

Q: Turning away from maps and the boat – did you enjoy your time in Rio,
in Brazil?

A: I did. Last time we were here, we only had two days in Brazil and that
was a really quick turn-around in Sao Sebastiao. This time, I had a few
days off a little bit south of here, in Angra dos Reis which is all
nature-reserve islands. It’s just beautiful. I had a nice little break in
a very pleasant area and I look forward to coming back here some day.

Q: When we listen to your accent, we tend to forget that you come from the
United States originally … Are you looking forward to going back there?

A: I am, it’ll be good fun. I hopefully have a few family members trying
to make it down to Florida to come and say hello to us. I’m not looking
forward to going against the gulf stream to get up to Baltimore and
Annapolis, though, because that’s not always too much fun. But the
stop-overs are good and I know that Miami is a new stop-over for this race
and they’re all very excited about having the Volvo Ocean Race there.