Race 1 - Day 30
Crew Diary - Race 1 Day 30: Liverpool to Punta del Este
19 September
“Drive it like you stole it!” I shout to the starboard watch that took over from us. This is our motto that keeps us going fast.
We just finished breakfast after our 2-6am watch. It's amazing how here we aren't getting tired of exactly the same meal for breakfast for the 31st day in a row. My choice is always porridge with fruits, nuts and honey and couple of toasts with butter and marmalade.
As I write this, we are already east of the Uruguayan coast. So far we sailed 6400 nautical miles (half of which we've all been asleep but I'm sure it all counts). Now we are just 430 nautical miles away from the finish line. And it's certainly exciting as we are fortunate to be in the lead. There is no time to relax of course – we are concentrating and working hard. The fleet is quite spread out now and because of this different boats get different winds and as a result, different boat speeds. We are trying to make most of the conditions we get and constantly adapt as they are changing. Just in the last 24 hours we went from a difficult downwind run under spinnaker to 35 knot winds that were sending us surfing at 20 knots even without the spinnaker to beating upwind against 3m waves to crawling at 4 knots just before dawn.
We also do our best to not make mistakes and be on alert for emergencies. By now we had our fair share of difficult situations where intense team work was required. Most of them were spinnaker related – wraps around the forestay, hoists that went wrong, snapped halyard sending this huge 322m2 sail in the water trailing by the side of the boat. All of these emergencies gave us more experience and confidence in ourselves. We are ready for the challenges ahead.
In the last 24 hours we also enjoyed:
– Spectacular rain so strong that the raindrops hitting the ocean turned it all white for a while
– 10 meter whale escorting us for an hour apparently trying to figure out if we could be a good company for his migration trip
– Billions of stars on a moonless night. Well, we probably didn't see all of those billions as lots of them are too dim for a naked eye, but we know they are all there. This also prompted conversations on whether the universe we live in is just a computer simulation or maybe there is life somewhere out there and, if so, do they also have a Clipper Race going on right now with their respective crew watching their sky and thinking the same thing
– General banter with lots of hilarious inside jokes and a little gossip. Some of us just really like to get a conversation going and are glad to share their views on whatever topic comes up!
It's time for the Port Watch to rest now until we get back on deck to hear, “Drive it like you stole it!” from our Starboard Watch crew mates. We'll drive fast!