News
Mike Sudo's Macondo has retired from the 2019 Transpac due to rudder failure. They reported to be safe, and making good headway towards Los Angeles. Just disappointed:
"Macondo now heels hard to starboard and our worlds feel a bit upside down. The potential for catastrophic rudder failure crept from the shadows last night forcing our crew to make the heavy hearted decision to turn back. To head home. To abandon 2+ years of daydreams and planning. You never truly learn what you or your crew are made of in fair winds and seas, you learn about your crew in the dark of night, when shit hits the fan and the stakes are high -- that's when the masks are removed and you know the makings of a man. Words cannot express the admiration I have for this team and their fortitude. Not for a moment did they shrink to the multitude of challenges -- they rose.
Punch to the gut? Of course. I seem to find never ending parallels in sailing and life and today is no different. Sometimes elements are purely out of your control, however you can control how you react, you control the next move. The decision to turn back was to subconsciously strip us all down to the nerves and decide there are more important things than winning or finishing, champagne showers or celebratory social media posts, and it's these realizations we seek when we leave safe harbor in the first damn place. These are the reminders that hopefully make us better sailors, better people. We don't do this to win or to conquer nature, we do this to somehow remind ourselves we are nature, that we're still wild, apart of it all and to marvel in its splendor. This is my church.
Yes our bow points homeward but our heads are high, mouths full of pancakes, hearts full of stories to tell one day when they sting a little less. K2 out."