Lisa McDonald, Skipper of Amer Sports Too, after coming eighth in Leg Six

by Volvo Ocean race media on 19 Apr 2002 Q: A fantastic start for you…

A: It was quite a good start, we knew that everyone would be vying for
pole position, it wasn’t the best start as it was a bit of a procession
getting off Miami Beach, and a few of the others got a bit over zealous at
one end of the line, and we saw that happening at the last minute, slowed
up a bit and tried to make the best start we could. We led off the line
which is a great feeling.

Q: When did you make the decision to go East?

A: We got the latest weather we possibly could, about an hour before we
knew we had to make the decision, and the weather we got at the time said
that it might be a bit of a calculated risk, so we took the gamble. It
didn’t go so right the first day, but we had committed to that, and we
gave ourselves and out up at the top to get back into the stream, and
actually consolidated with the fleet.

Q: How physically demanding was this leg?

A: Very hard, it was lots of manoeuvres and really working next to the
other boats, gybe for gybe; tack for tack and sail change for sail change!
I think we got our boat handling down pretty well.

Q: You must be very frustrated, you were so close, but unfortunately
another eighth…

A: Don’t worry, when it happens it will happen big!