Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race
Friday 28 November 2008 12:00 GMT
Life has been hard for Team Russia the last few days as their eastern strategy has failed to meet expectations, but navigator Wouter Verbraak recently received news that put into sharp focus the relative importance of scheds and speed dials.
As they battled the frustration of being back of the pack, a call to his wife revealed the death of a close friend.
In the following email, received at Race HQ late this morning, which commences with a song from the funeral, Verbraak sums up the thoughts which have taken precedence over GRIB files and routing solutions:
"Who can sail without the wind,
Who can row without oars,
Who can part from a dear friend,
Without shedding a tear?
I can sail without the wind,
I can row without oars,
But I cannot part from my dear friend,
Without shedding the tears.
Whilst stuck in no wind and our easterly option not looking all that flash, I gave my wife a call. The first thing she said was: “I see you are completely stuck, and I know you absolutely hate losing, but do you want me to put things in perspective?
I have kept this news from you as I know it really hurts you and you have enough to deal with, but now seems a good time. We lost our good friend Anders Bing last week.” She then send me the song above which was sung at the funeral yesterday. Five hundred people were there in the church and I so wish I could have been there too.
The song couldn’t be more appropriate for Anders, who we all will miss as a dear friend and a source of inspiration. A joke, a friendly chat and a smile never more than a few seconds away, Anders lived life and made it shine for the people around him.
The song fits life onboard very well. Drifting along in two three knots of breeze and seeing the rest of the fleet make gain after gain is absolutely devastating. It is the good company of the other crew members that keeps you going and gets you through the low points as a team. Jokes and funny bets are a constant. In difficult times one needs a clown or two to down play the situation and show what is really important.
One such a highlight today is Oleg on the helm with a big smile on his face just as we get going again with some more breeze. You can tell he is really enjoying the moment and that sends a great vibe through the crew.
Our motto at this moment is “Sail with what you got, focus on the now, let’s have a nice sail for the rest of the stretch to Cochin and see how things pan out”: very much the way Anders lived his life. I take great inspiration from that. We will all miss you Anders, I certainly shed some tears last night, you brought so much sun to our lives!"