The Girls Rule!
It has been a long time coming, but an all-woman team finally won a leg of the modern Volvo Ocean Race (VOR). English skipper Sam Davies and her largely rookie crew of Olympic champions had won some in-port races, but not an off-shore leg.
But that all changed on the next to last leg of the round-the-oceans sailing battle when the ladies on Team SCA won the 647-mile, 4-day sprint from Lisbon to Lorient, France under gale force, boat-bashing, up-wind conditions. And they led most of the way after taking a big gamble by sailing far offshore while the boys in the other boats safely hugged the shoreline of
And let’s make no mistake. This was no fluke. Team SCA proved that they can sail as fast as any team of men in the world and they did it with overpowering strength and style.
It has been a very tough road for the ladies, in so many different and often spirit-killing ways, and this victory was many years in the making. But just like when the U.S women won the World Cup 16 years ago, and men and women alike from all over America suddenly noticed that women are just as tough and talented as the men who invariably get all of the glory, this sailing victory is a sports milestone. Another brick in the wall has been removed. And young girls who are now sailing at Severn Sailing or Annapolis Yacht Club can take heart in knowing that in June of 2015, twelve tenacious women from the
Ricardo Pinto - VOR
HUZA!
Throughout the history of the Volvo Ocean Race, women have been the red-haired stepchildren – a sort of conciliatory afterthought. The men took center stage while the women always finished last. In fact, no women’s entry had ever finished all of the legs of this round-the-world race in over twenty years. Their boats always broke down at some point along the long way and they had to seek refuge on some foreign shore.
Don’t get me wrong. The boys love having the girls around and they have always treated them with respect. But when the goal was to merely finish, rather than win, all they ever really got in the end was a patronizing pat on the head, like a little kid or a puppy.
As the VOR has evolved over the years, it has made it harder and harder for women to compete – not intentionally, like the sleazy FIFA bandits who are making the women play on leg-burning artificial turf in the World Cup up in
When I helped with the Brasil shore crew about eight years ago, I went for some practice sails, and I can remember how many strong men it took to move the sails around above and below deck on a calm day out on the
This is the first time there has even been a women’s entry in the VOR since 2002. It simply wasn’t a fair fight. And it was dangerous as hell.
But when the Volvo folks decided to go with a one-design Volvo 65 this year, the women jumped right back into the mix. They were still at a disadvantage. And that is exemplified by the fact that they have usually sailed with twelve people on board while the men only sailed with nine.
The latest VOR has run true to form with the women always finishing last – but at least finishing every leg of the race. And with each leg, they got better, and stronger, and even more determined to excel. But the psychological sting of always being the last to arrive at the finish, sometimes long after the men had stored all of their gear and were downing a few congratulatory pints in the local pub, had to be discouraging.
“Ahh, well, at least we finished and we did our best,” was about all they could keep telling themselves.
But those days are gone forever.
Skipper Sam Davies had this to say about their convincing victory. "Thanks to everybody for all your support. It's not really sunk in yet. It probably won't hit us until we hit the dock and we see there aren't any other boats there.
"It's a reward for all the hard work we have done. It's a great confidence booster. It's going to be huge for us. We've had a mountain to climb to get here."
Let the celebration begin!
But the girls weren’t the only
winners.
By finishing third in Leg 8,
veteran Bristish skipper Ian Walker and the lads aboard Abu Dhabi Racing are now eight
points ahead of their nearest rival, the Dutch boat Brunel, with only six
points in play on the final leg. So on
June 27th, after a nine month, 38,739-nautical mile, round-the-earth
enduro sailing competition, Ian and the Boys will raise the silver trophy above
their heads at the finish line in Gothenburg ,
Sweden
Ainhoa Sanchez - VOR
VOLVO LEADER BOARD
| Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Leg 5 | Leg 6 | Leg 7 | Leg 8 | Overall | |
| 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 19 | |
| Alvimedica | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 33 |
| Brunel | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 27 |
| Dongfeng | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | DNF-8 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 29 |
| MAPFRE | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 31 |
| SCA | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 44 |
| Vestas Wind | 4 | DNF-8 | DNS-8 | DNS-8 | DNS-8 | DNS-8 | DNS-8 | 2 | 54 |
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