Volvo Ocean Race

22 Feb 2012

Settling down

Leg 4 Day 4

The waves are finally settling down a little and forming some kind of pattern. We have certainly fallen off the back of a few big ones over the last 48 hours. I have no idea how these boats stay in one piece but they are a credit to the rule makers and structural designers (so far so good anyway!).

Thank God we weren’t sent out here in 35 knots! One thing is for sure – this is a pretty crazy part of the world and not one I am in a particular hurry to return to. I guess the trade winds, the monsoon, lots of currents and some large land masses all conspire to create a real mess in the sea.

Life onboard is OK but we have some very tired people. Sleep has been very hard to come by as it is hard enough staying in your bunk in these waves, let alone managing to sleep. I have never seen the food bag so full as keeping food down has been quite a challenge for some. The only damage onboard so far (apart from a few small leaks) has been to an internal stacking bin so let’s hope we can keep it that way.

As always there is no letup in the pace of the race and even though we have sailed a very good 36 hours we still have boats breathing down our neck all over the place. It is nice to be sailing alongside somebody else (Sanya is only five miles away) for a change and especially nice to have PUMA and Telefónica behind us. Everyone is trekking out towards the Southern tip of Taiwan where the wind is expected to become very fickle. I hope the waves drop before the wind does or it will make for tortuous progress.