It’s Friday; tomorrow, it will be a week since the start of Leg 3. Except for the painfully slow start to the race, as we took nearly 24 hours to clear Cape Point, the sailing has been fun, exciting, and generally downwind. Lots of champagne sailing in the sunshine and 20 to 30 knots of wind on a rolling 4 to 5-metre swell. Does it get any better? We had one day with winds gusting to 50 knots and 8-meter swells - about the height of a two-story house. Possibly more fun, but definitely type 2 fun (it only becomes apparent it was fun when looked at in hindsight)! The top speed that day was 24.5 knots - not bad for 45 tonnes of boat. We are closing in on our 46-degree south race limit and have covered over 1400 miles from Cape Town.
We still get glimpses of our competitors and we are in VHF (line of sight) contact with several of them. Apart from the Clipper Race crews (and possibly (a little difficult to find exact details) and a few military personnel on the remote islands of the Southern Indian Ocean) the next nearest humans are apparently those in residence in the International Space Station. This is a very remote part of the planet, and we are very aware of how few people have been here.
It is, of course, very exciting to think we are following in the wake of the global ocean racers of the last 50-plus years: the likes of Sir Robin, Peter Blake, and Steinlager and the more recent Volvo Ocean Race competitors. We are now well established in our watch routine, and it is very much the case of sail; sleep; eat; repeat. A very exciting day for me today - the weekly change of base layers.
Fresh undies and thermals. It’s amazing what becomes a notable event at sea. Everyone on board has been adding layers and working through the contents of the “cold stuff” dry bags. Lunch is next (haricot Vert apparently) and then on deck for the six-hour afternoon watch - sunny, 25-30 knots, and downhill. Bring it on!
Ed Crook