Race 5 - Day 18
Crew Diary - Race 5 - Day 18
09 January

Team Dare To Lead
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The long race to the final Miles

Dario Schwendener

Thousands of miles we raced towards Airlie Beach. After a decent start, we lost ourselves in a big wind hole south-east of Cape Leeuwin. Our competitors pulled away and there was not much we could do about it. Soon the leading teams gained several hundred miles on us and we have had difficulties to keep up their pace. Shift after shift was a fight against ourselves. Following the Race Viewer must have been painful these days… sorry. Getting up was a struggle, being positive and motivate my team members felt harder than ever. But did we have a choice? Knowing that our team is better than being last by over a hundred miles did not help us in this situation. We all knew that we have to step up and work harder. The race was not over yet but we needed to stay in touch, no matter what.

What followed was some of the best down wind sailing we had so far. First we sailed the Code 2 up to the wind limit, than we reached even higher boat speeds with Yankee 1 and a Reef. The sailing was exhilarating and we averaged hourly speeds up to 15 knots, and everybody enjoyed the surfs over 20 knots. Once again the Southern Ocean, once again cold and wet, once again we sailed south towards the ice limit. Rounding Tasmania in a gale felt like how it should feel being down south. Gusts in the high 40’s with big beam seas. Luckily nobody was hurt and our yacht sailed along without any major damage. This time we were ready for the challenge! Knowing the boats heading north would slow down kept our motivation levels high.

Instead of catching up we found ourselves too searching for wind soon. While sailing up the east coast of Tasmania, Punta del Este crossed our stern by only a few boat lengths. What a miserable experience because they started 48 hours later... at least we had another yacht on the plotter we could measure our progress against. First it seemed like we stayed inshore while Punta del Este would choose the offshore strategy. After a day of beating through the Bass Strait, we tacked offshore and looked for the strong northern currents while they stayed inshore. Under the thick ash clouds of the immense forest fires of NSW, Australia, this decision turned out to be the right one. Miles after miles our thickly covered ash racing yacht gained back on the fleet. After changing our grey Yankee, our hands were black and we looked like a chimney sweep team. The current and breeze gave us a fine lift and we were the fastest boat in the fleet for a long time. We worked hard and all the evolution’s were safe, fast and effective. Some nights ago, Guy’s head popped up through the companionway hatch announcing Qingdao just turned up on the AIS. What a welcome surprise, after being a long way behind seeing Qingdao now in less than 10 miles range. We were back in the game and the competition was on!

For the final two days we have chosen to stay east of the strong southerly coastal current and we stayed east of WTC Logistics and Qingdao too. Unfortunately, the inshore strategy turned out to be the right one this time. Stealth mode and fast downwind code sailing was not enough to give this incredible chase a happy ending. WTC Logistics and Qingdao managed to sail away on a better wind angle towards the final gates guiding us through the Great Barrier Reef. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic comeback and we kept the spirits up. Currently we are sailing in very light winds with our biggest kite Code 1 and a full main. It is very hot and humid in less than 10 knots wind.

I’d like to thank our Leg 4 crew members Shanelle, David T, Simon, Ahmed, Stephanie Cardwell, Larry and Alan. Battling the challenges of our oceans together, forming a strong team was an inspiring experience. Dare to Lead will miss you on board!

All the best!

Dario & Crew