The fisrt moments of disappointment on the 2nd Leg

no, it's not fair...

This leg was meant to be about grey skies, damp, if not wet conditions,
chilly to cold weather, tough winds, big waves, breaking our way towards
Cape Town. We are now getting the forst half, it is grey, chilly and
damp and wet. However the second half of the "deal" is missing... We are
impacted by the high pressure system building right about Rio. Althugh
we're sitting at pretty much the edge of it, we are already suffering
the lousy winds and smooth seas. The enjoyable tough winds and the
bouncy seas deserted the fleet in the past 18 hours. The "equator" story
once again: low winds, flapping sails, mow moods...

Looking at it from the bright side: the conditions below deck improved,
helping the crew to recover from the heavy sea sickness quite a few were
suffering from. We were finally able to open the hatch, and allow fresh
air to wash away the very heavy smell of the "favela" (the compartment
where all sails are stored, and 14 of us are sleeping in. It used to be
called the "getto", after Rio, we decided to call it the "favela":)).
This is definety a major improvement. I will rely on a journalist
honesty for a few lines, and be a bit disgusting to explain the
situation: the "favela" smell is one you should try to avoid, a toxic
combination of still air that's low on oxygen, getting heavy with
humidity raising from 14 people's breaths & the wet sails, topped up
with all kinds of unpleasant bodily smells (I will save the details, but
I can smell 5 different sources with not the best product of smells),
and finished with a touch of bilge and sail cloth smell. Sailing is the
easy bit, try surviving the favela without getting sick, THAT is the
challenge.

Still looking at it from the bright side, we are not alone in suffering
the light wind torture this time. More or less, all the fleet is pretty
much in the same wind zone. So we think we're not really falling behind
(crossing fingers). And it's a long way, we have just started it, there
are yet many cards to be played along the way...

The stressfull event of the day, which was even more stressful than the
poor winds: our watermaker broke. The pump which we had recently
installed in Rio malfunctioned. The old one refused to work either. Here
we were, sitting in the middle of the ocean with only half a tank of
fresh water:( We believed for a few hours that we would need to go
off-course, divert to a boat with a spare part, and loose sooo much
time... Fortunately, after 6 hours of mounting and taking it apart, the
new pump decided to work again. Ohh, what a relief... (David, who is the
most handy person I have ever met in my life, and Jan were working on
it. David admitted that they were not sure what made it to start working
again. Well... I suppose it just needed a bit of TLC)

The high sides of the day: being out on the ocean once again... The
exposure to the open ocean, the eternity and infinity of the horizon and
the sea, once again. Watching the different colors of the day, the sea
and the clouds... Observing the change in these for signs of different
weather conditions lying ahead. Trimming the sails, changing them,
getting physically challenged at times, and relaxing for a few hours
afterwards just appreciating the beauty and wildness of the ocean. It is
so good to be out here again.

So that's the news from the day
Keep an eye on me:)