Race 2 - Day 7
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 7
22 September

Today is the sixth day of Race 2 and we are settling into the routine of the six, six, four, four, four watch system. That said we are also pushing the boat hard and ourselves to get the best possible result, with the consequence that we are a little tired and occasionally lose focus. As a result of this loss of focus, we suffered a spinnaker wrap late yesterday afternoon.

At the time we were in the leading group of boats and feared that we would rapidly slip behind the following pack of boats. Luckily we had our very able Skipper Josh and AQP Hugoon board who organised the recovery. With Hugo up the mast and Josh organising the crew on deck before sunset, we were able to untangle the sail without too much damage and it was below and being inspected for damage.

When one considers the complexity of the wrap we were fortunate to have only three relatively minor snags that required patching. By mid-night, the sail was repaired and back in the bag ready for the morning. To our surprise, we had lost only a little time and had maintained our position in the fleet.

We are now on track to the scoring gate that is set to the west of the Cape Verde Islands and are pushing hard for the bonus points, that a top-three finish would be our reward, before we head south to the Trade Winds and the downwind surfing that could lead to a good result in Punta del Este.

It is clear to all of us that we are fortunate in that he have, Josh and Hugo to coach us in this complex game of ocean racing. It became clear to me during Level 4 training, and the team-building weekend we discovered we have an amazing group of a very talented team who are bonding into a competitive team.

To all of our supporters, I wish you well and fun as you share with us some nerve tingling tracking of our progress.

Fair thee well and enjoy our slough-ride to Uruguay.