What is a pioneer? What is an artist? Who can we deem to be brave enough to be called an adventurer?
Every day we face adversities and overcome impossibilities of nature. Yet, as was shown this weekend, the greatest performances of humanity were still to be witnessed. With races described as “poetry in motion”, “an act of lapidary to the art of sailing”, and “happened on the 23rd of November”, the Cambridge Green and Orange teams descended upon the bustling metropolis of London with the alluring promise of permanent glory hot on their minds. The London Sixpack 2024, hosted by UCL was indeed underfoot. Despite competitions being called off across the country, the organisers took one look at the Cambridge contingent and knew that the phrase “too windy to be safe” simply did not apply here.
With some quick clean victories in the first round for the second team, and some second places for the third team, the stage was set for the ultimate showdown – Green V Orange. Once more showing their prowess and no-holds-barred approach to racing, there were indeed some brief moments of inversion of the firefly hulls. Most notably, both captains were red flagged, and only 50% of the boats finished the course. But who are we to judge – perhaps another tactical masterclass from the Grafham based outfit??
The competition for the London Sixpack 2024 was binned early – something about everyone being too afraid to lose too badly against those really good and cool sailors from Cambridge (and the 45mph gusts). Alas, this led to skewed results with 3-3 for the 2nds and a 2-4 for the 3rds. With the true results unclear, neither team made it to the podium. But many of the great pioneers are under appreciated at first.
Where beauty meets fearlessness and innovation is a personal question, but I think 12 young athletes just achieved such a feat.
Luke Wallis (Green crew)
