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

Eventful night followed by a beautiful day

Nearly a week into our second part of Leg 1 and we are well in the groove of our life on board divided into three hour synopsis. My watch, ‘Mariners’, were on duty from 0300 until 0600 this morning, and it proved to be fairly eventful. We had finished our watch on deck at 2100 admiring the clear starry night sky with the amazing Milky Way and many other planets visible, and we enjoyed the company of a family of dolphins who were putting on a great show for us. On our return, the clouds had set in and it was so much darker. Somehow everything seems so much bigger and escalated on those dark hours - the waves, the wind, the creaking sounds of the boat etc. We ended up having two near wraps on the newly repaired Code 2 Spinnaker, but luckily managed to recover from them by the skin of our teeth. We've been exercising the halyards regularly to avoid chaffing however, the Skipper spotted a possible problem on top of the mast with our spinnaker halyard and as a precaution, we dropped the sail for inspection of the rope. Fortunately, all was ok and after repacking the sail we re-hoisted it up. Towards the end of our watch we ended up swapping the Spinnaker from Code 2 to Code 3. It all sounds pretty straight forward in theory and on the screen like this, but please believe me, especially in the dark with high seas and howling wind, it all comes as a challenge from recognising the right lines, to balancing yourself, hearing each other etc. etc. Most often, we do raise to the challenge and manage the evolutions well.

Today we have enjoyed a beautiful sunny day and some great sailing. I can definitely tell by the ache in my arms, the wind was gusting at around 20 knots and some assertive helming was required. It definitely feels like we are making some great progress now, and the Cape Verde Islands are getting nearer, before we'll cross the Atlantic to South America. The cold and cough that has bothered most of the crew is easing off now, and the usual natter and laughter can be heard both on the deck and down below. The Seattle team is truly coming together as a race team, and I can't wait to see what the next three or so weeks will bring in its way.