Race 2 - Day 6
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 6
21 September

I arrived on deck to start my watch at 10am, and had to do a double-take, Zhuhai (which had been within a few miles of us since pretty much the start of the race) was now only a few boat lengths away! Although the team had been ‘close’ for days, this was different! Everyone’s focus sharpened and there was a positive tension on deck. It felt like a race start, where there is constant monitoring, manoeuvring and trimming to juggle the fine balance between gaining an advantage and avoiding collision (our in our case, hold the slight advantage we had!).

There was an added edge to this duel, as our skipper and Zhuhai’s grew up together, learned to sail together, raced together and have competed against each other for many years and it was fascinating to watch as they read each others minds and fought continuously to gain an advantage. We were the windward boat and every time Zhuhai tried to come up and pass the team found the door was firmly closed. We were close enough to hear the shouts of our fellow crew on Zhuhai, there was no response from GoToBermuda as were in the zone and only focused on what we had to do. This relatively high speed battle went on for around an hour and for those of us on deck it was physically and mentally draining, as we knew that even the slightest mistake would be enough to allow Zhuhai past.

There’s a long way to go on Leg 1 but this reminded us what we are here to do – race ...and we loved it, and are looking forward to the battles ahead with the rest of the fleet!