The Volvo Ocean Race went on hold for a couple of us as we are in the process of essentially waiting for a low pressure system to come our way so we can jump on and rip to the horn. Sounds bizarre? Well, when you look at a weather map of this place, it is truly Bizzaro World.
If we continued south, we would be blocked out of The Horn by a huge area of light winds. Essentially, for ourselves and E4 who are positioned within 27 miles of each other, our quickest route by far is to head northeast and punch through quite a strong low to get into the westerlies on the back side of it. Just when you thought this leg couldn't get any weirder…
The Dragons are going to be the huge recipients of this early Christmas present. They are about 300 miles behind us as we head to The Horn but they will be the first to jump on this system and come ripping up to us and as we see it, start the leg all over again with E4 and ourselves. As for the other two, T-Blue may not be as lucky. They are still one complete weather system behind but at this point but I count nothing out. E3, who has worked so hard for a nice little lead, is showing no signs of heading up for this front as of yet. Do they continue south and try to beat this low, or do they come back with us and jump on the train and burn up their hard learned lead? Very interesting…
Adding to the bizarre nature of this leg is the huge disparity from last night to tonight. Essentially last night sucked- really cold, tons of water, hard reaching. Brutal conditions really. As morning came, the wind started to back off and by midday we were reaching in bright sunshine with the Masthead Genoa on and airing out the boat. That trend continues tonight. Unreal…
Onboard we all really appreciated the sun and the lack of fire hosing today. It allowed for a bunch of chores and tidy ups, much needed rest and some new stories. It was really and truly a nice break in the action.
We talked today about a total lack of marine life out here so far- very few Albatross, only a handful of small sea birds, no fish or dolphins to speak of. Thank goodness no whales (they can hurt both whale and boat if they meet unexpectedly). My guess is that even the marine life has figured out that this is a pretty desolate place and there are better places on earth to hang out. Strange though- when we passed through a similar latitude leaving Cape Town there were tons of Albatross- none on this side of the Southern Ocean.
Only 1700 miles to the Horn, hopefully the race will start up again soon. We are officially ready to put this stage of the leg behind us.
- Kenny
