Bam, bam, bam, gybing here and there… The ice excusion zone had us tacking 360 degrees continuously and restlessly. For the moment, the wind is merciful: it shifted and we are sailing paralell to the ice limits, but for a shortwhile. The entire crew is in focus mode, like a dog that just heard a noise, or a cat that heard a bark.
It has been 24 exhausting hours onboard, non-stop, and nobody was able to close their eyes not even for a short nap.
They guys are tired, the water is cold and the breeze is increasing. It’s the toughest moment now, in which mental strength is critical, as it is teamwork and communication. If any of these skills fail to happen, then this generates one hell of bad mood. The boat’s push is intact, and at times we were even leading the fleet!
It’s inshore mode on a sunny day. Everyone’s on deck enjoying the show we’re taking part in, and that we will remember forever. It’s the first one-design edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, and this has its pros and cons, but we’re all in the same conditions.
As I mentioned yesterday, the day light time is moving really fast, and we’ve already moved lunch and dinner time 4 hours earlier, since we operate in 4 hours shifts. It feels good but sometimes it might affect your mind a little.
In about 200nm, we will leave the ice exclusion zone behind and we’ll be able to sail straight to Cape Horn. We expect winds of 120, 110 and 25 to 35 knots. In the meantime, we’re here in the middle of a tiki-taka fight in the Volvo In-Port Southern Ocean Race!
#vamosMAPFRE!
Fran