Race 2 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 4
19 September

Aloysio Xavier
Aloysio Xavier
Team Punta del Este
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Release the vang!

In the Clipper Race Training we learnt a lot of things that are essential for good sailing, but also can be quite useful in, let's say, a civilian life.

The knots are a special chapter, because when one understands their purposes and applications, they can help to solve a lot of problems at home or at an office. Civilian people will look at you with other eyes, when you can easily make a bowline or a clove hitch to just hang or tie things around.

Of course, there are other learnings about team-working and seamanship that will improve your personal strengths for the rest of your life.

But amongst the many different sailing manoeuvres we learnt, one caught my attention in a special way. It is called “release the vang" and it is used when the boat is sailing downwind in strong winds, and the pressure on the mainsail is so huge that the boat is just about to broach. In this situation, releasing the vang will reduce the exposed sail area and depower the mainsail, avoiding the broach.

In civilian life, we face many similar situations when the pressure of the day to day life, is so big that we can not cope with it and end up broaching, so to speak. Usually, it hurts us and others around us.

So, one of my main Clipper Race learnings for civilian life is: when the pressure of the situation you are in is too high, do not try to keep up and move forward because you will broach. Identify the source of the pressure and just “release the vang", so you can go back to your course without damages. You will lose some speed, but you, your crew and your boat will be safe and ready to go on.

The course of life is long and good winds are to come for all of us.