Race 2 - Day 11
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 11: Punta del Este to Cape Town
15 October

Justin Heiner
Justin Heiner
Team Dare To Lead
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11 days into Leg 2 and this race keeps getting better by the day. Leg 1 was a nice warm up for what is to come and the stopover in Punta del Este, Uruguay was amazing even if entirely too much time was spent at Moby Dick's.

The South Atlantic/tip of the Southern Ocean/roaring 40s has lived up to its reputation. Routine 30+ knot winds with occasional gusts over 50 knots and 4-5m seas have kept the sailing lively and challenging at times. It has mostly been overcast and rainy, but there have been a few days with clear skies where the sun comes out, it is almost warm, nearly becalmed and gives a brief chance to air out and dry out kit that has been cold and damp for days.

The performance of this boat is still amazing and shows more so as the conditions deteriorate. A personal favourite has been surfing waves at 25+ knots with 2 reefs in the main sail and only the Yankee 2 flying forward. The boat is generally well balanced, but helming definitely becomes more challenging and physically active as the wind speed and sea state come up

After escaping Leg 1 with only minor sail damage, the spinnaker damage bug (kitemares) finally caught up with us yesterday. There were 2 spinnakers down with damage and too much wind to fly the remaining (lightest weight) spinnaker. One spinnaker was repairable within a few hours but the second has extensive damage and will not be repaired and available until Cape Town. I stayed up through one of my off watch sleeps to complete the sail repair and it was interesting how tired I was after being up for 12 continuous hours. This doesn't sound like that long in normal life, but your body gets used to working in a 4-6 hour watch system and doesn't like when you miss a sleep.

Justin