After a week on land, it was time to head back to sea. The next stop would be in New Zealand Aucland.Once again, the start day was very light wind, and unfortunately for us, it was upwinds. We had a good start,but despite that, the bigger boats quickly sped past us and disappeared over the horizon once more. In situations like these,I wished I were on a larger boat, as they always managed to reach the areas with favorable winds much faster.
Boats on the starting line
After the difficult start, we finally got some really fun weather, allowing us to surf downwind for several days. The goal was to head south and catch the strong westerly winds. We also had three virtual waypoints that we had to round.
Strong wind downwind
The wind calmed again, and everyone’s spirits were a bit low, as it always felt like everyone else was moving except us.We sat in a calm for a few hours, moved a little, and then stopped again. We received a strong wind warning from race organizer Don McIntyre,and we decided to try to avoid the storm by turning slightly north. However, things didn’t go as planned there was no storm, but instead, we found ourselves in light winds again, stuck.Luckily, it was only for a short while, and we were able to get going quickly again as the wind picked up fast.It got so strong that sailing with the spinnaker became difficult, and we had to reduce sails.
Busy night watch After the wind had calmed down, we baked gingerbread
In the heavy downwind conditions, a batten from the mainsail had broken and torn a hole in the batten pocket, so we had to start repairs.The wind had conveniently lightened, allowing us to safely drop the mainsail on deck while still sailing downwind using the headsails and the mizzen.Of course, just as we got the sail down and were ready to start patching it, it started to rain and blow hard again. Well, we had no choice but to work quickly.We stitched the patch into the batten pocket, replaced the broken batten, and hoisted the sail back up.
On this leg, I became really interested in the radios and spent a lot of time at the chart table studying weather charts and listening to weather reports.It wasn’t always easy to hear the quickly-read numbers over the static on the radio, but I got better at it quickly and enjoyed chatting with the other boats.
Favorite activities :) I had headphones and a microphone, and I felt like pilot. :)
Rounding Tasmania was an exciting experience; we sailed very close to the coastal cliffs. None of the other OGR boats went as close as we did some didn’t even see the shore.I’m not sure whether it was a good or bad idea, as we ended up stuck in a calm again.
The boats ahead of us, Outlaw and Evrikahad 15 knots of wind. It was a frustrating situation because we had held good positions for a long time.We still had to cross the Tasman Sea before reaching the finish.
The wind was very inconsistent; sometimes, we sailed with the big spinnaker, and other times only with the small staysail.As the wind steadied, we began to catch up to our biggest competitor, Outlaw.For the first time in a while, sailing felt exciting again as I constantly tracked where the nearest boats were and noticed how we were gaining on them.
We cleaned the restrooms every day. Here I am, cheerfully engaged in this not-so-popular task :))
The first boats arrived at the finish. We still had about 700 nautical miles to go.But the mood remained positive because in a few days, we’d be at North Cape, the northern tip of New Zealand,with only around 200 nautical miles left to Auckland. However, the wind forecasts indicated that we’d face headwinds for the entire remaining stretch.
We rounded the North Cape at the same time as Outlawand it was such a fun race, boat against boat, for the rest of the way to Auckland. Outlawmanaged to get ahead of us at the very last moment, which turned out to be a really bad move in terms of the current.We were just about to reach the harbor. The lights and the masts of other boats were clearly visible when we realized the current was incredibly strong and against us.We had thought we’d reach shore late in the evening, like Outlowdid but things didn’t go as planned. We tried to push forward against the light headwind and strong current but couldn’t make progress.We finally crossed the finish line in the early hours of the morning. It became so frustrating that we all just started laughing.Every team member will surely remember that frustrating but ultimately rewarding night for the rest of their lives.
We finally arrived in Auckland.
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