A3 spinnaker up on port board – we’re off. It should be the old ‘one and in’ to the horn now, but that’s always a big call from this distance. Not to mention the funny weather patterns that we are seeing right now for this time of year.

Over the next 48 hours we should see a progressive build in pressure. The sea state shouldn’t get too crazy for three days or so, but the air and water temperature will no doubt drop off quickly. It already has a bite to it now, so I can only imagine what it will feel like with the wind chill and fire hose all revved up. As Rob puts it, “it’s pretty damn cold right now, but I can’t say that too loud because the bowman will tune me up for complaining. Thankfully I don’t have that job!”

There is no question the anticipation is building on board. In fact, most of the day we sit around surmising what might have happened to Camper or Telefonica recently. All we can see is that they have been off the pace for the past 24 hours and seem to be heading due east towards Chile rather than the horn. We all have our theories, but the suspense is killing us! Hopefully everyone is safe in the rest of the fleet…