The six Volvo Ocean 65s in the fleet keep sailing upwind in the start of a tough fourth leg.
It’s like rodeo bull riding, really. At times we sail against 30 knots of wind, in spite of which the boat remains in one piece and we have good speed as well.
We have Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in sight to leeward, Dongfeng Race Team in front, and Team Alvimedica to windward.
We are sometimes reaching and then the sea calms down a bit as waves don’t come from the nose, but 85% of the time we beat at 45° to 60º.
We are still seasick, and trying to switch to sea mode. The temperature of the water is nice, but even though we have our water gear, our hoods, our googles on, and whatever helps us protect ourselves from being beaten by the waves.
At night the wind was quite inconsistent, and we had to change sails 4 times, always from J1 to J2 or the other way around.
“120 miles to the Philippines, after that we’ll keep reaching: 08:00 UTC”. Jean Luc’s head pops out the hatch and delivers the news.
Vamos MAPFRE!!