Race 2 - Day 1
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 1
15 September

Win-Win

So, we won Race 1. It was amazing and very exciting. On my watch I went to bed and we were in seventh position and we were woken up two hours later in first position. Huge success and excellent job by Jeronimo, Ryan and the whole crew. The team in Marina de Portimao were nice enough to give us beer way past midnight, which we did appreciate.

During the stopover we have cleaned the boat, which was absolutely necessary after eight days at sea. We have fixed the boat up and we have had time to enjoy Portimão. People have gone out for dinner, drinks and even karaoke. We have had fantastic fish and meat, and we have enjoyed the Portuguese hospitality.

Today was the start of Race 2 between Portimão and Punta del Este. Our boat led the parade up and down the river.

We then had an exciting Race Start, with all boats tacking and gybing constantly and … yes, we did it again, we led the fleet away from Portimão and, as I write this, three hours into this race, we are in first position. It is still a very long way to go, but it is important to be in the first place as we are playing our joker in this race, which means that we obtain double the points, whatever the position we achieve.

We are now slowly going back to the routines on board. We had David and Graham on Mother Watch. They cooked lasagne for dinner. We are back in the watch system and tonight we hope to have a new edition of ‘Stars with Tono’. Tono is our on board astrologist that is teaching us astronomy.

Finally, I want to recognise all the people that have made a huge effort so we can enjoy this experience. To all those wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends, sons, daughters, friends, mothers, fathers and brothers, a big THANK YOU. Without your support, this would not be possible.

With love, from CV25 – Punta del Este.