A Totally Different Story: 2nd Leg

Hello!
We're back racing again, crossing the Atlantic for a second time,
HURRAY!!
The race start was on 27th Tuesday, and we waved goodbye to Rio on a
rainy and hasty day. Our start was across Urca, a pretty competitive
one, turned around a mark right infront of Sugar Loaf, turned another
mark at the end of Copacabana Beach. So we had a proper farewell
ceremony to Rio…

The competition among the boats soon lead itself to boat strategies, and
we diverged to the open seas. There is a bunch of boats that have
started moving strictly south, and some others that stayed more
northerly. We are currently among the second fleet.

The race itself has already hinted to have a completely different tone
and challenge versus the previous one: we have been sailing upwind in
the last two days, with 20 knots breeze, and 1m waves crushing against
us.
The life on deck is awesome, really enjoying the challenging sailing
experience, definitely more demanding physically. We have already
changed the headsails several times, almost matching the total of the
headsail changes of the previous leg. Pretty exhausting to carry the
sail on deck from below, set it up, drop the previous sail, hoist the
new one, flick the previous one, pack it and get it below. This already
hints what's awaiting us in the next two and a half weeks, exciting…

But not for all of us. The sailing conditions have already started
challenging the crew: 6 people down, sea-sick. That's 1/3 of the crew…
This was one of the reasons why we stayed a bit northerly than we had
initially wanted to, considering that the conditions further south are
even more challenging. Giving the crew to catch a breath…

Despite my zeal on-deck, I cannot claim the life below deck to be
enjoyable. As the hatches are closed, it's very hot, airless, humid, and
well, stinky down below. Moving, sleeping, using the heads, eating,
dressing up at a steep angle, with little space and while bouncing off
the waves is very demanding. Cooking and cleaning under these
circumstances, don't try thinking about it, it's draining, a mission
impossible…

And, I had to face that challenge already: Tough luck, first day
Motherwatch:( Not pleasant one bit, actually pretty torturous,
considering that I was missing the early, eager times of racing…
Anyways, at least it's over now… For another 6 days

So, that's the news from the first two days of racing…
Keep an eye on me:)