MAKING THE TOUGH CALLS

There are so many decisions to make in the course of a sailboat race, particularly offshore, where choices come with high risks and big rewards or none at all.

MARK CHISNELL

SAILBOAT racing is all about choices. Go offshore or hug the coast? Change the jib now or wait till the turning mark? Do we spend the budget on new sails or a coach? Every choice is a risk. Get it right and you gain; get it wrong and you lose. But this is sailing, and there is an existential element to the sport that exists in few others; sometimes the choices are more serious, and coming last in the race is the least of your problems. Just such a decision came up on the third leg of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa, to Melbourne, Australia. It was December 12, 2017, and the whole fleet was sailing east, tracking the movement of a low-pressure system, when…

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Sailing World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Spring 2023

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