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Macondo Race Blog

Retirement for Macondo

Maconadrella's chariot has lost a wheel. Evil Step Mother prevails. End of Act 2. It reads like cliche narrative structure, and unfortunately this is our present reality, but it's not the end of our story. Macondarella will live to see another day, she'll learn, she'll grow, she'll return, better and badder than ever. Cue training montage...

See you in 2021.

K2 Sailor's Log:
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. 
-Kyle R. Clements


Macondo Day 2 Boat Log

July 12, 2019

Day 2 in the books and Macondarella is finding her footing. Energized by brief glimpses of Milky Way laden night skies and dreams of coconut oil rub downs. Mother Pacific has treated her well thus far and she is grateful. Today's crew spotlight is on the lone woman warrior aboard--Michelle Rae aka Vixen. A consummate badass with a kind soul, motherly touch, and the saint like patience to endure her 10 fellow male crew all stricken with poor bathroom aim. We wouldn't be here without her, Macondarella salutes you Vixen.

K2 Sailor's Log:
The chatter amongst crew is becoming more frequent as we leave our worlds farther behind and realize -- we're all we've got. By most metrics there's never been a better time to be alive than here and now, yet our world seems to suffer more now than ever. It's my belief that things have gotten so easy that we forget what we're made of, what we're capable of as creatures of the wild, and to me there's no better way to remind ourselves than the elective suffering of a rite of passage. To cast off the bow lines -- cross those invisible boundaries between the safety nets of society and the adventures of the wild.   

Kyle Russell Clements - aka K2


Macondo Day 1 Boat Log

July 11, 2019

Yesterday the clock struck noon and Macondarella's journey to the ball begun. 

But this isn't just any ball. This is no glass slipper, polite society, champagne waltz kinda shindig. No, this is Maconadrella's foray outside her comfort zone, loos'd of limits and imaginary lines--this is her epic journey to finally get lei'd. We'll be chronicling her journey and of her faithful crew in regular posts, dependant upon sea state and vomit threat level.

Today I'd like to shine a light on our glorious boat owner, Mike Sudo, the man who brought us all together and made a mean bow tie and meatballs last night. He's one of the most generous cats I've ever known and possess the magic power of turning a boat into a community. We salute you Sudo. What's for breakfast?

K2 Sailor's Log:
Two years in the making, and our first night is in the books. When this much time has been spent contemplating a new endeavor it's typically met with swirling thoughts and general restlessness -- the bodies natural conversion from the beating drum of Los Angeles time to the celestial pace of the sea. But our crew is gelling nicely, getting into a rhythm all our own. On this boat I'm known as K2, and I'll be providing musings from our journey across the Pacific, a journey this Louisiana Boy never thought he'd see. 

Fair Winds,
Kyle Clements aka K2