Leg 6 Race 2 .. The Plan.

04.04.2024

The plan is a cunning one, it’ll take some luck and plenty of hard worked great sailing to pull off, but it could bring us to the front of the fleet (apart from Ha Ha Long, who are currently laughing at everyone). After passing through the final gate to the big blue beyond, we were faced with a choice, either we continue to race against the fleet, boat by boat, or do we take a sneaky route more east than north to take advantage of the weather ahead. Baring in mind we were already in fourth position, this was a fairly big call; the fleet’s route is also shorter and more traditional. The weather system ahead of us, which will hit everyone, is a rather knarley low pressure system with gusts up to 60knots, our plan is to ride the bottom of it east and then head north, hopefully ahead of the pack, facing some headwinds at the start, but then reaching comfortably at high speeds with 30-40 knots, reducing to 25 over the next couple of days; the others, however, will go downwind first, before hitting some very heavy upwind activity (about 50+ knots) before a very large wind hole; shorter but feistier. We went for our route… big gamble.

The execution.

We are the only boat going this way. It could either put us 100 miles ahead of everyone (except Ha Ha), or dead last. Wayyy more fun option though. It began in the evening, gradually at first, and then it really escalated quite fast. We had the busiest watch ever, reef 1 in, reef 2 in, reef 3 in (yes, reef 3), all seamlessly through an effort of quality communication and execution, before the wind hit around 40 knots. We then went to drop the Yankee 2, which had served us well being close hauled for the entire afternoon, but too much canvas is too much. Smiley, Santa, and I mounted the foredeck, head torches blaring a purposeful red, and proceeded to haul in the sail with just the three of us; again, even with waves crashing over us, washing the sweat from our backs, it was one of the best we’ve done. Following this, though the boat was more comfortable, we dropped about 2knots in boat speed. No good. Reef 3 shaken out. Still not enough. And to make matters worse, my head torch decided it wanted to stop working and refuse to turn off from the brightest light it could be; a few good whacks on the deck quickly sorted the problem in the moment, will have to see if there’s any chance at revival soon. The call went out, “**** the Yankee 2 off down the hatch, and bring up the 3” nuff said. After a tea, some biscuits, and a chin wag in the din of rain and howling winds around us, we decided that we were in fact recovered enough to **** 2 off down below. Smiley and I got to it, hanks off onto clothes line, and dragged the thing back. We then hauled up the Yankee three, dusted the cobwebs off our smallest headsail, and secured it to the guard rail, before doing away with the two. By this point it had gotten pretty windy, and with ten minutes left in the watch it was almost worth just leaving the rest to the other watch. But because we were there, and we’re good people, and we were actually having a genuinely great time besides the exhaustion and slight damp in our bones, and the 40 degree lean of the boat, not to mention the sheet lightning now filling the sky around us, we hanked the three on together for shits and gigs, ready for the next watch to hoist. Great watch, huge team effort.

When we woke, the wind had thankfully veered around to behind us, the Yankee was retired to the deck, and the Code 3, our smallest, punchiest, kite was up. Morty was excited to a tail wagging level as he came down soaked from the weather. Only a few people could helm in this now 5 metre seastate with 40 knots of wind and a kite, but those who could hold it surfed as well as we could, enjoyment was to be had, ground to be made, but it had to be done safely. Santa, Rick, and I took hour long shifts through the afternoon, surfing regularly at 18 knots, with the odd 20 peeking through. Exchanging tips and and revelations on the seastate, we began to master it as the day progressed. During the 6 hours we battled with the sea we covered around 80 miles, averaging around 14 knots on the report.

It will be a few days before we know if our plan has paid off, but if we maintain the rate at

which we’re flying at the moment then we’re in with a chance (apart from Ha Ha, they’re really far ahead.).

Will x