Punta Del Este to Cape Town, Day 1, Race 3, 23/10/2019

Hi,

Start of race 3 to Cape Town! 

Wednesday 23rd of October 2019, mum set off at 3pm from punta de este east towards Cape Town. Before she got on the boat I had a quick chat to her. She was excited for the next part of her journey and what the south Atlantic awaited for them. In two days after watching closely on clipper race viewer we received her first email. 

“The clock has just ticked over to 26th October which means we have already been at sea for 2.5 days and we have travelled 500nm. I’ve been helming with spinnaker at night in very heavy seas. It’s great.
We have had a series of knockdowns and last night we lost our steering. Whilst the engineer fixed it, we fixed the spinnaker again. It all took about 20 minutes and then we were back racing. It was a very busy shift. We also made bread and yoghurt.
Oh and it’s looks like we are in the lead atm”

Richy
The clock has just ticked over to 26th October which means we have already been at sea for 2.5 days and we have travelled 500nm. I’ve been helming with spinnaker at night in very heavy seas. It’s great. 
We have had a series of knockdowns and last night we lost our steering. Whilst the engineer fixed it, we fixed the spinnaker again. It all took about 20 minutes and then we were back racing. It was a very busy shift. We also made bread and yoghurt. 
Oh and it’s looks like we are in the lead atm

Portimao to Punta Del Este, Day 24, Race 2, 09/10/2019

With 400nm to go, mum and her team are super excited to get into Punta. The battle for first is heating up there is 0.025 nm between Qingdao and Sanya. Heres a quick email received from her tonight! 


So life aboard the good ship Sanya continues. Just managed to wash my hair for the second time. Feels fab. 
This morning we saw whales, dolphins and Qingdao for the first time in 3000 miles. 
We can see they have a spinnaker up so we have just put ours up. It could very well be a photo finish this race. Not sure whose in the lead but we will be crossing the finish line at the same time. We think we will be there Friday afternoon.

Thanks

Portimao to Punta Del Este, Day 21, Race 2, 06/10/2019

Update from mam

There are all sorts of better tactical minds thinking up devious plans to keep staying 1 step ahead of Qingdao. 
We now have our code 3 up, which can deal with heavier winds, Afshin and I have just spent another 4 hours stitching and patching the code 2. 
Less than 1000 miles to go now, then I can say I’ve sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. 
We have now taken down the code 3 as the wind hit 34 knots and it became tricky. 
Just helmed in massive seas - 20-30 foot waves. It was very physical. 
Xx

Portimao to Punta Del Este, Day 16, Race 2, 01/10/2019

Hi 

had an update of mother today,

“3393 miles already done. 2000 to go. 
No major dramas, everything going well. 
We are consistently sailing at 9-10knots and we have increased the lead on Qingdao to 60 miles. 
Small issues with food and depressed member of crew but apart from that everything is going well
It is hard living at a slant though. Everything is so difficult to do below. Going to the loo, cooking are
both challenging. 
Love to everyone. Missing you
L
LI Paderewskiy uht n”

Not sure what the last bit meant, some sort of secret code I think. 

Rich