The Crews Get to know about the people that make the race  Home Page  Yacht Race Main Page       General comment on "crew" by Bob Norson The word crew as it applies to these racing boats is insufficient and miss-leading. Cruising boats have a crew, as does a super tanker or cargo carrier or a movie making team etc. But the racing boats need another term that is better reflective of the result. Mingling with people of the various boats having arrived at Mackay from Sydney suggest separate personalities as a group with the skipper providing the nucleus and DNA while the others adopt the roles necessary for the function of the whole. Everyone finds their way to fit in to the jig saw puzzle leaving no gaps and completing the picture. The quality of the image dictated by the sum of the parts, the performance of the boat overall determined by the design and fitness of the craft and the quality of that image. Organism is a better term from my observation. Does the organism attract a particular kind of personality or do people adapt their personality to the function? The result is a person willing, even eager to commit to adversity, danger, deprivation and hardship…. and maybe glory. When the boat comes in there is a release and explosion of pent-up .. something! While performing there is no room for fuck around but when the feet hit the dock there is a stiff drink (the first of many) in one hand and perhaps a phone in the other but they are still part of that organism. One group may shift to the club where they most all have the same drink in hand, talking shorthand of events past and future chores. Another team may be hunkered down later at the dock, sitting in a circle around the skipper (of course) with boxes of fish and chips and bottles of booze in brown paper bags as if to disguise their intent. A different result but a similar 'organism. And then the parts of the puzzle make their way to the boatyards to sand down the bum with 600 grit for that next race or make their drunken way to the airports in innocent taxi's or photographer's overloaded Honda's to go back to the other life…….. for now.  Skandia                          On the way to the airport in the photographers car....        More crew photos to add as they arrive..........