These final days of the America’s Cup, which have been dubbed ¨if days¨, are essentially a test of emotional endurance for spectators, and a lesson in torment for organizers. The winner of the Cup is the first to 4, and no one knows who will win, meaning no one knows when the races will end, so everything you plan and everything you say has to be preceded by an ¨if¨. All of the prize giving ceremonies, all of the celebration parties, all of the last days of work, and closing of the offices, everything, is on a constantly shifting time schedule. Instead of a ¨last day¨ everything is set up on an ¨x-number of hours after races end¨ bases. For example, instead of closing the cafeteria on say Thursday, it will close 24 hours after the last race, whenever that may be. Can you imagine trying to prepare meals for hundreds of people on a maybe/maybe not basis?
But it’s more than a logistical nightmare; it’s also a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.
Each day goes something like this:
Ready…?
Ready…?
It’s going to be huge…
Here it comes…
Oh…never mind…But that was great guys, can you do it again tomorrow?
Everyone comes to work in the morning with enough energy and excitement to get them through a huge day of regattas and the celebrations to follow, all of which may or may not even happen. And if it doesn’t happen, as was the case on Sunday, you go home at the end of the day and then try to talk yourself up the next morning all over again.
And you never know if you should be cherishing something as your last. Will this be my last morning briefing? Should I take a picture? Is this my last day sitting at this table, with these people, looking out this window? There is a certain process that I’m used to, a certain level of preparation that goes into saying goodbye to something, and it’s all wrecked in this situation. I am coming to realize however, that perhaps it’s good. All the excitement and anticipation just builds up, and all of the procrastinators have time to take all those pictures and save those faces to memory. It’s one of those rare opportunities for a second chance.
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