Race 2 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 4
19 September

In our wake…

Now we’re a couple of days into Race 2 and we have begun to settle back into our two watch system. We have divided the crew into ‘Baywatch’ and ‘Crimewatch’ and we are working four hour shifts at night (8pm-midnight, midnight-4am and 4am-8am) and six hour day shifts (8am-2pm and 2pm-8pm). As well as sailing the boat, one member of each watch takes turns to cook for 24 (aka Mother Watch), engineering checks, cleaning and also one person from the watch getting some extra rest, and on standby (as I am right now). This is working well at the moment and everyone is taking their turn and giving it 100%, despite the problem of trying to sleep, especially during the day in this unrelenting heat. The doldrums should be fun!

In terms of the race, I don’t want to tempt fate but we appear to be more energised and competitive after our Portimãostopover and it’s a good feeling to have, a few other boats in our wake but we’ve still got a long way to go to Punta del Este, and a lot can happen in ocean racing as we discovered in Race 1.

Also in our wake, I was privileged last night to see photoluminescence – tiny algae that glow in the dark when disturbed by the motion of the boat – it was a truly mesmerising sight and was one of my bucket list goals for this experience!

Wind conditions are particularly fickle at the moment and at the time of writing, we are experiencing light winds so progress is slower than desired. Sailing a boat in these conditions requires everyone to be aware of everything they do, having a potential effect on our boat speed. It’s strange to think that the place that people sit on a 40 ton boat would make a difference, but it really does in light winds. Even for those off watch, it will be urged to sit on the low side of the boat where possible and to move around slowly and carefully so as not rock the boat, which makes helming more difficult. As well as choosing the correct side to sit, there is also a light wind preference of getting the crew further forward in the boat to raise the transom (the back of the boat), clear of the water which reduces turbulence and drag (yes – it really does make a difference!)

The next part of the race is dependant on the accuracy of our weather information, and a little bit of luck in terms of our strategy past the Canary Islands and into the doldrums. Fingers crossed that we have made the right decision, but you can rest assured that we are continually trimming the sails day and night to go as fast as possible.

I hope everyone at home is well and enjoying following our exploits.

We are enjoying opening the little envelopes from our loved ones - we love and miss you all!

This continues to be an amazing experience with some amazing people.

Eat.Sleep.Sail.Repeat

Matt.