Race 3 - Day 22
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 22: Cape Town to Fremantle
22 November

Land in sight, not just yet...

Day 22 of our journey to Fremantle started off much like Day 21 ended, with a rather light breeze and a sea state that could let one assume that we are in coastal waters already. Much to the disappointment of some crew members, one of them being myself, this is not the case.

I verified this yesterday when taking a trip up the mast, the Skip's intention for a little excursion to higher grounds was to re-run a spinnaker halyard that we had to cut earlier that day during a little incident we had with our Code 1. My motivation was primarily to check if I could spot land from up there. When back on deck, I was able to report success on the official mission purpose, which allowed us to hoist our wind seeker a bit later. I failed though to spot land.

Once again the Southern Ocean proves its unpredictability to us and much of the rest of the fleet. After relentless days of beating upwind in constant winds around 40knots at the beginning of the leg, we are currently moving with around 8knots towards a rather large wind-hole that seems to try to protect Fremantle and the Australian coast from the Clipper fleet arriving before the weekend.

Life on board Dare to Lead is good, although we have by now ran out of the large selection of cereals we had and are down to the last few apples. Snacks are also coming to a dangerously low level, but the mothers are doing there best in providing the crew up on deck with baked goods. While I am writing this, the smell of fresh cinnamon loaf comes from the galley, hence spirits are good.

Although I can't deny the thought of some fresh fruit and yoghurt for breakfast on Friday in Fremantle had become a very dominant thought for me, I am certain we will have a few more good days out here and will push hard for a good finish of the race.

Brought to you by Chris