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Read more“Before midday I was cleaning the food cooler I use to cook at the stern when Rafa suddenly changed direction to avoid some seaweed. This made me lose control and the cooler slipped out of my hands as I shouted NOOOOOOOO!!!”
THE DAY I LOST THE “COOLER”
Yesterday we finally entered a windier system. After exiting the Doldrums, we’ve sailed in gusts up to 30 knots under black clouds loaded with water.
Read moreJean-Luc told us the clouds 80 miles away indicated the start of the Doldrums. We were sailing in such nice wind that when we arrived to the clouds they were exactly like the ones in the satellite picture.
WELCOME TO THE DOLDRUMS
There’re loads of seaweed, it’s unbelievable. They creep up and remain hanging from the lifelines. “They look like lettuces. Today we’ll have freeze-dried food and salad for dinner”, says Carlos
Read moreWe need to go where we want to go, without other teams putting pressure on us.
BOW AND BOW WITH “BRUNEL”
We’ve been the whole morning and afternoon fighting our rivals on board Team Brunel. We sail really close to each other.
Read moreWe have perfect weather conditions with almost 14 knots and fairly dry winds that make life onboard pretty enjoyable
A SUNDAY WITHOUT A BREAK
It was pretty funny to see how, gradually, Brunel approached from the horizon. During the night they overtook our boat. Something similar happened with the girls, who maintained their course overnight and then crossed our stern.
Read moreAfter several hours looking for the shift, we finally found it. It feels good to know that we won’t have to tack again in six days time. For now we’ll just have to sail to the north of Brazil and then cross the Equator.
FEELS GOOD TO KNOW WE WON’T HAVE TO TACK FOR A FEW DAYS…
“Ñeti’s fully recovered and the anti-inflammatories worked really quickly, he needs to rest and load up on energy. Xabi covered for him and he’s now doing his Skipper watches again”
Read moreFrom 20:30 UTC we were expecting a 50º shift and a tack with it which would put us heading NW. But it’s 06:00 UTC now and nothing’s happened, although we found ourselves doing one tack after the other.
JUST AN EASY DAY AT THE OFFICE
Today we haven’t been sailing particulary fast but in comparison with the rest of the fleet, we’ve done all right.
Read moreFrom the beginning Iker said, “the sails must be looked after as if they were our girlfriends, they are the boat’s engine.”
TRYING TO GO NORTHEAST IN DECREASING WINDS
Finally, this looks like an F1 race. We’ve been tight reaching for the last 20 hours, and the boats have started crossing, not at high speeds really, but watching how each of them progresses is nevertheless spectacular.
Read moreTalking with Bochecha, relaxed after the great farewell in Itajaí, he mentioned this part of the race is like an F1 bend where the car goes at the limit and the weight of the pilot becomes critical.
LIKE A F1 RACE
Together without losing a mile. The position reports are really surprising. Differences in speed are as little as 0.1 to 0.2 knots, impressive. We’ve been sailing for around 60 hours with all boats in sight.
Read moreThings haven’t changed much since the start. The fleet sails together without major changes to it. Some sail changes but nothing out of the usual.
SECOND NIGHT AT THE FRONT
The second night onboard MAFPRE went really well. The guys are in really good spirits and focused. Adaptating through the night wasn’t as bad as usual for since the start we’ve only sailed a straight line. Last night was overcast and without stars, and we sailed upwind.
Read moreWe switched to offshore mode and the watches got started. Sometimes at the start of a leg the whole crew remains active until late in the night, but yesterday 2 hours into the leg we realized we were ready, and stuck to the watches.
OBRIGADO, ITAJAÍ
We were sailing on port tack heading Northeast towards the trade winds. The skies were clear and we could still see the lights of Brazil and a couple of fishing boats.
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