We have reached the northern extends of the Southern Ocean in the last few days. At a little over 40 degrees south we let ourselves be carried east by the northerly winds. The winds have been relatively steady over the past few days, but have been increasing. Also the waves have been growing at the same time. More precisely we are looking at around 25 knots of wind and about 3 metre waves at the moment.

Compared to the Bay of Biscay both wind and waves are slightly weaker, but not by much. The big difference is the wind direction. Back in the Bay of Biscay we had been beating upwind (the winds coming as far from the front as would still allow us to move forward). Now we are sailing on a beam reach to broad reach with wind coming from the side or even slightly from astern. This allows us to reach boat speeds of around 11 knots and is much more comfortable. And then we sometimes manage to ride a wave. This only lasts a couple of seconds but the boat speed then quickly increases to up to 20 knots. Not only do we get closer to our destination faster, but it is very enjoyable for whoever is at the helm. It is not uncommon to see a broad smile on the helmsman’s face in these situations. Sometimes you would even hear a short scream of joy or some other unarticulated sound in response to a nice surf on a wave.

With the increase in wind we have decided to stick with the more conservative sail plan also for the daytime and drop our spinnaker. After the last drop we again found a small tear. A clear confirmation that it was a good decision to drop. With the experience gained in Punta del Este the repair went quite smoothly even on board. Thus, we are ready to hoist the spinnaker again as soon as the conditions allow.

In the meantime we are making good progress towards South Africa. But also the other boats are sailing fast. In the current ranking we are fifth. This is a good position for the second half of the race. In the second half we will also have another ocean sprint where we hope to scoop up one or even a few bonus points.