Day 27 – Thursday 30 January 2020

By Nicholas Chapman and Daniel Skriker

We recently spent a day bobbing along in hardly any wind and chose the opportunity to swim around the boat to get some much needed exercise and take our minds off the thought of not managing to make it to Rio before the race cut-off time on Sunday. We also noticed that the yacht Indulgence which was at a lower latitude than us and which we thought we had overtaken was gradually moving ahead of us. Hmmm, the spirit on board was somewhat down as we tried to work out why we were being so unfortunate. Our ETA was now the 4th of Feb and getting worse with every hour we spent in the doldrums.

Then the wind gradually started increasing and was shifting more towards our beam which is the wind direction the yacht performs best under. Swimming was now out of the question as we hit 5 knots of speed and everyone on board became motivated to choose the right sail configurations with those on watch taking the responsibility to watch the tell-tales on the leeches of the main and genoa sails to make sure we were always optimising their shapes and positions for the best efficiency. We heard that the yacht Anjo behind us had withdrawn from the race which was very unfortunate for them.

We then eventually managed to average over 7 knots of speed in the last 12 hours, hitting top speeds of over 11 knots quite often in winds of 15 to 20 knots. The mood on board had become a lot more positive as we also noticed on our GRIB files that we were going to have these stronger wind conditions for at least 48 hours. We even started gaining on Indulgence and taking bets (involving chocolates) with each other over whether we would manage to overtake them again.

The chocolates and other sweets then all came out came out after we managed to overtake Indulgence. We only had 230 miles left to go now and were still flying along. Sadly it does look like there could be an HP developing just off Rio this weekend with wind speeds as low as 2 to 3 knots that will last for several days. If we end up being unfortunate enough to run into these awful conditions at the very end of our wonderful trip we may just motor in the last 50 or so miles to make it to the prize giving event. We thought this would be preferable than sitting bobbing away twiddling our thumbs while we dreamt of a hot shower and stationary bed to sleep in.

Several of the return crew have apparently arrived in Rio already and are doing some sightseeing before their departure back to Cape Town. The skipper is Rory Rochat who has done the Rio trip a couple of times and is very involved with running the JML Rotary Scout programme, having initiated the replacement of the 20-year old boat’s engine with a brand new Deutz one. If it weren’t for the new engine and Rory volunteering to bring the boat back, which he is doing with a full crew, our trip wouldn’t have been viable so we are very grateful to Rory and his family. We sent Rory pics of the sail battens needed and details on the lines that need replacing which he has already managed to acquire as he apparently leaves for Rio tomorrow morning. Dom’s dad has also arrived in Rio now and we really look forward to seeing him and Rory – and Sugarloaf mountain!