Racing or Cruising?

Are Amer Sports Too taking it easy and staying safe asks Peter Bentley.

Is the sun setting on all-women Volvo Ocean Race crews?

It's just possible of course that Lisa has taken a serious tactical decision to keep her powder dry. Is she simply protecting her boat and crew, content to arrive safe and secure in Rio ready to make inroads in to the fleet on the later less stressful legs as her crew gains in experience and confidence?

Then again perhaps the Amer Sports Too crew never expected to do more than trail along behind. Is their goal simply to finish the race and put the experience to good effect for a further campaign in 2005? By the end of the race between 15 and 20 female sailors will have had the opportunity to sail at the very top level of ocean racing. As Lisa McDonald pointed out before the start "to have the same people coming back time after time can only be a good thing."

The novelty of an all woman crew can only last for so long though. One suspects they will only have the chance to come back again if they can at least perform to a modest standard. In the end the Volvo Ocean Race is just that, a race, and so far, the women are not doing well.

While Ellen MacArthur, Florence Arthaud, Isabelle Autissier and Shirley Robertson amongst others have done nothing but good for the image of women in sailing, its hard to see how the same can be said of Amer Sports Too.

Am I alone in asking if Amer Sport Too's performance really does anything to further women's sailing in the wider world?