Rough weather in the North Atlantic, onboard Telefonica Blue, on leg 7 from Boston to Galway. Image copyright Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Bouwe Bekking (skipper)
We are fighting like gladiators, but we can’t get more speed out of our puppy. We feel we made improvements, but we are still missing that little of bit of pace which is needed to stay up front.
Most of the time we have been running with six guys on deck, so everybody gets less sleep, if you can sleep at all when you are off watch. The boat is shaking violently, and sometimes you nearly get launched out of your bunk, when we stick our nose in a wave in front. From 25 knots to 12 knots in matter of seconds, the forces on the hull and the gear are enormous, but no gear damage.
I just remind the guys as well to enjoy the ride, as it still very fast. The Atlantic shows once again, it can be a nasty place where weather forecasts change quickly. The northwest wind brings us heavy squalls and the temperature drops considerable, we even had hail. But downstairs it is cosy, warm, dry sleeping bags and even the foul weather gear dries partly out as the heater is running full noise.
Still looks like we will arrive somewhere on Sunday, which makes it still a relatively quick trip.
Volvo Ocean Race
No comments:
Post a Comment