Race 2 - Day 1
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 1
15 September
There is only a one week break in the stopover Portimão, Portugal, but the Visit Sanya, China crew are looking forward to the next Race already! Comparing with Sanya city, Sanya is much more comfortable on food, accommodation and natural environment than Portimão. We are finally going to start Race 2!
The Race 2 is very long, from Europe’s Portugal to Uruguay in South America, the distance is about 9,000km, and we will have no stops anymore. Visit Sanya, China has 21 crew members, except the Skipper and First Mate, and all the teammates are non-professional yacht lovers; adventurers and dream chasing little heroes.
From today, we will sail through the North Atlantic, the equator, and the South Atlantic. We will try our best to win Race 2. The goal is clear, but we all know that it is not an easy thing. We have to survive the hot weather, the equator wind tunnel, fatigued status and the living conditions on the yacht. Every crew should have good mental preparation for everything, otherwise. As soon as the yacht starts, you can not get off, can not give up, can not go anywhere, the only thing you can do is keeping going, stick to it.
Now, let me introduce the living conditions on the yacht. When the yacht is sailing through the equator, we will sweat, and 21 people sweating in the same place will make the air terrible, and you can not wash your face or take a shower on the boat, no air conditioning or heating on the boat. You can only take a shower in the rain. Whilst you are sleeping, the yacht will not stop for you to get comfortable, it swings continuously and inclines up to 50 degrees. If you didn’t fix your body on the bunk well, you will be thrown out, and the most uncomfortable part is that you can not have your own bunk, you have to share the bunk with others (while your bunkmate gets up, then you go to sleep, and then next so on), you can not have a table for eating and no flat ground on the yacht. The only way for eating a meal is to hold a dog bowl (it is really a dog bowl) and try your best to swallow the unfresh canned food. And after using the toilet, you have to turn around to face the toilet and manually operate to wash your own ... the basic living conditions are tough, I thought most people would not be accepting of it, but when you look through the social media, look around your friends, who have been sailing around the world? I guess no one. Think about it again, do you think any of your friends want to attend the Clipper Race? The answer is, its a must have experience. So we can afford the tough living conditions and face the challenges. One of my friends summarized well, what she is saying is :
“To be honest, the joyful time is less on the race, most time you are feeling tough and doubting why you have to suffer the difficulties. But in our life, we have many tough moments or times, and it’s meaning only useful when we recall it.”
The stopover week in Portugal, Visit Sanya, China team cleaned and maintained carefully with our yacht, the team spirits are very good. We are so eager to start Race 2, and the last two days in Portugal felt so long. Before our Race Start, our Skipper said that he is confident with Race 2, as soon as we keep going as we did in Race 1, it will pay off. And it is true. Only one hour after Race 2 Start, our Visit Sanya, China yacht is leading the eleven yachts, ranking No.1, we are running in the wind to Uruguay.
It gets dark and winds became slower and slower, at the first 18-24 hours, the top nine yachts lined up in one line with no wind, the speed did not reach to one figure. The only fun thing on the yacht, is that we have a friendly stowaway robin, and playing with the bird and waiting for food and the wind is the only thing we can do.
Not, let’s go! The one month sailing journey just beginning, this is my first 24 hour report and all the best to our Visit Sanya, China team!
克利伯环球帆船赛才停靠葡萄牙Portimão一周，但咱们三亚号全体船员早就表示只想上船开始下一个赛段！与三亚市对比Portimão几乎没有亮点，不管从美食、住宿、或自然环境方面来看三亚远远比这里舒服。今天终于不用再等出发了因为第二个赛段就要起航啦！
本赛段特别长，大概9000公里从欧洲葡萄牙直接到南美洲乌拉圭不停！整整一个月的比赛，每天24个小时前往终点跑。咱们三亚号的团队一共有21位，船长和大幅以外其他船员都是非专业的帆船爱好者、冒险者和追求梦想的小英雄。
今日起我们将试图跨越北大西洋、赤道和南大西洋尽力获得赛段冠军！目的很清楚但都很知道这不会是一件容易实现的事。能克服航线中的炎热气候，赤道风洞，疲劳状态和船上的整套生活条件每一位参赛水手一定要提前做好心理准备否则一定会崩掉。再说一出发就不能下船，不能放弃，不能离开，只能硬着头皮坚持下去。
我先给大家介绍一下一船上的生活概况：跨越炎热的赤道时我们一定会不断出汗，21个人同时出汗绝对会慢慢变得很臭，但船上无法洗澡洗脸，也没有空调或暖气，只有雨水才能用来洗身。睡觉时船不会停下来让你舒服，就会继续摇来摇去可能会斜到50多度，不好好把自己绑下来就很容易和扔出床来，但更不舒服的一个点是没有任何一张床属于你自己的，必须与其他人共同使用（他起来你就进去睡，再轮到下一位用）。吃饭时没有餐桌或平地，只能跟着穿的动作拿着你的狗碗（真是狗碗）尽量吃下不新鲜的罐头食物。然后当你上完厕所之后需要转身面对马桶里的一切亲自操作手动冲水设施把自己的打出去。
这些基础条件我估计大多数人不愿意接受，不过，现在想一想或翻一下自己的朋友圈，看看身边有没有人曾经参加过一场环球帆船赛，我猜一个也没有，但再想一想身边有没有会想要参加这样比赛的朋友，我估计起码会有几个！因此我们决定了接受条件，面临挑战。今天有个朋友把这个点总觉得特别好，她说：
“真正享受航行的时刻并不会太多，可能很多时候都会在受罪并质疑自己为什么来受这个罪。可人生很多艰难的时刻，都是在过后回忆起时才明白其中的意义的。”
在葡萄牙停靠的这一周咱们把三亚号清洁和维修地特别认真，团队精神也非常到位，早就准备好开始第二个赛段，最后两天在葡萄牙感觉都在拖时间。今天启航前船长说他对本次赛段充满希望与自信，只要保证赛段一的状态就一定会出好结果。刚启航钱一个小时三亚号果然站11艘船的第一位，快速前往乌拉圭跟风跑！
当天越来越黑风速也变得越来越慢，比赛的第18-24小时前9位船基本上都站一排但几乎无风。船速低到0点几结。这几个小时船上唯一可玩儿的是一只偷偷飞到船上并特别有好的知更鸟。出了它和等待吃饭只有共同等待风的到来。
好，一个月的比赛正式起航，前24小时的报道就此结束。祝我们三亚号一帆风顺吧！