Andy Meiklejohn sporting HUGO BOSS fashion in the Falkland Islands. [Note from SailRaceWin: Looks nice, comfortable, and warm and dry, as well as practical!] Image copyright Wouter Verbraak/Alex Thomson Racing
by Andy Meiklejohn
Well our Falkland Islands stop was an interesting one, quite a surreal place! At first we thought, “what the hell is this place” then we quickly felt at home, the wild life was amazing. Flocks of geese on the water all around us, a frisky pair of dolphins chased each other around the boat in some mating ritual. Overhead, diving birds were a constant sight and in the distant bays you could see whales blowing! It’s incredible looking at the barren hills and lack of human life to think just 25 yrs ago the place was torn to pieces by a bloody war. The evidence is still there on the C-map charts “EXPLOSIVES’ marked all around the place.
From a work perspective, it was not as productive as we hoped for and with such a long way to sail until the finish it’s difficult to balance the risk/reward af your choices. Do we make a technical stop and bring in the army? Do we stubbornly refuse and aim to finish un-aided with the sole remaining goal of finishing non-stop being the priority?
These options have been heavy in our minds since first the main split early in the south Atlantic then secondly the main track came off the mast about a week later. A lot of battles and many choices but what is right? Right now we still don’t know…. We are working with the shore team very closely on these issues and tomorrow we must make the final choice...
Alex Thomson Racing
Barcelona World Race
