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It’s a bit like being on the boat.
There’s a jet of water, which whips against me!
It’s not bad! It’s a lot nicer than on the boat,
because the water’s hot!
They’ve been gone 9 months so a short morning’s rest,
relaxation and ‘cocooning’ always does you good I reckon!
It feels good after a bit of treatment.
You mustn’t do it the day before a competition
because sometimes it makes you go soft!
It’s good for your physical condition,
which is the right way to go a week before the start.
I’ve already done something like this, in Saint Malo for example,
before the Route du Rhum. It’s pretty effective!
On a physical level it’s not the most difficult stopover,
because we’ve had the most amount of time to recuperate,
but I think the first special feature of this Volvo Ocean Race
is that it’s long and physically you have to able to stay the distance.
The ritual of the physical preparation
and the morning meeting during and before the stopovers,
forms part of a ritual of cohesion,
where the physical preparation is the only moment
where we all come together on shore
and where we latch back into our psychology as a group,
as racers, as sportsmen and the team bonds together
around this physical preparation.
In that regard, Santi, the preparateur,
has been pretty serene and subtle.
It also comes out when we joke or we debrief
and say things we don’t necessarily say normally.
Our physical preparation is also what links us back to the shore
and helps us in our cosmos, so it’s a good link.
It’s basic but it’s not enough on its own.
Ok let’s go!
We’re just gently getting back into the swing of things,
as unfortunately we don’t have a lot of wind.
What’s good though is that we may have an In-Port
on Saturday with light airs
and we’re able to train in light airs.
Today’s a bit extreme as we have no wind at all
so there’s not a lot we can do.
Yesterday though, we had a good day with Camper
and we’re the first to go off sailing so that’s good.
We’re going about things in a serious fashion.
Right now we’re surprised to see that the boat is still evolving
constantly throughout and Franck has removed weight
all over the place, so we can’t ease off the pace.
Nothing is decided in any case
and we know that there are still two really important
In-Port races and an offshore leg,
which will be in contact with everyone else.
As such we’re really not heading off
thinking we’ve got the win in the bag
as we still have everything to play for!