Race 2 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 11: Punta del Este to Cape Town
15 October
We have talked about it many times - competition. As Andy pointed out in one of his previous blogs, we don't have the manpower on this leg to be super-competitive as on Leg 1. For instance we were two men (and women) down on yesterday's day's and night's watch, down from 7 to 5 crew on the Jack Watch. This means that, for example, head sail changes are not as easy and take double the effort and the time than usual. I'm not writing this to moan, quite the opposite actually. I was so proud yesterday of our watch having done the latest sail change in no time and without any issues and believe me all you readers, flaking Yankee 1 or 2 into the bag with 5 people can be quite a job! For all of you who haven't seen a yankee in action, this is a sail of the size of a badminton court- a very thick and heavy sail, covering almost the entire deck in the flaking process.
Not being able to fly our kites due to the above mentioned reasons is of course frustrating for some, but considering we have flown our kites for no more than half a day altogether since race start in Punta del Este, we are doing incredibly well (the second I just wrote this our speed went up to an incredible 20.2 knots!) and we have a flying start through the Scoring Gate.
Neptune seems to mean well with us. He's giving us good and favourable winds at the moment. A handful of crisps or some orange peel every now and then will keep the God of the seas happy. Yesterday he threw 4 squids at us on deck. Our pit is now covered in tint and who knows what (probably the remains of a stepped on dead squid). Well to all you squids out there, if you are eager to keep us company on deck, please don't land in the busiest part of the boat, the snake pit, you'll thoroughly regret it!
Going off topic here... coming back to the topic of competition, no we probably won't be under the top 3 crossing the finish line this time, but so far we've had a great Leg 2 with lots of new weather, winds and even scenery (if you count the different looking sea state as scenery of course). This time in hopefully only 5 days, we'll be enjoying the sunsets over the Victoria and Albert Waterfront in Cape Town.
With lots of love,
Antonia