Sunday gives you some rest and time to relax and get ready for the upcoming week. But not so in the Atlantic, where it’s always Monday 8 am and there’s plenty of work on your desk.
We are on starboard tack, the wind comes from the 220º and since a couple of days we were anxious for it to shift to the 350º, allowing us to gybe and head towards Lisbon. It was also a perfect moment to pass “Brunel” which was ahead of us.
Around midday and in less than an hour the wind started shifting. It was time to make a decision, and the crew was on deck discussing when to gybe. We finally decided to do it really quick as not to alert our opponents by moving sails and so on.
After a great gybe just minutes later we saw “Brunel” gybe just 2 miles ahead. Slowly “MAPFRE” got in front of them. “Dongfeng” was just some miles in front of us and was running out of wind, and mile after mile we managed to catch up on them. Anyway the second they get wind they get rocketed and it’s difficult to keep up with their speed.
On port tack our eyes are on Lisbon, there’s three days of breathless sailing. We are in great spirits, the crossing’s been quite easy so far and could get more interesting in the next hours.
#vamosMAPFRE!
Francisco Vignale, OBR