Bouwe: Ännu en kämpig natt

Kämpigt! Trots 16,7 knops båtfart och otaliga segelskiften tappade Bouwe ledningen natten till lördagen.

Senaste nytt från Bouwe på Team Brunel:

Last night we did our tack to the North. Come back to that a little later in detail. A little late as we don't think the extreme North will pay off, sailing the extra miles. We more or less tacked simultaneously with MAPFRE and Dongfeng and since the tack they have been going better than us. Like in last race on starboard tack, we do not have the height as we what we can sail on port. But we can't complain, we are having our original jibs, while the other two have have both new jibs.

We have been losing nearly all day, but now it stopped, so that is good - and the other good news is that we are not upwind anymore. It is always tough to start a leg with 20-30 knots on the nose. No good sleeping, eating way less than you should and the same for drinking. I am trying to force myself to drink 1 litre when on watch, but I sometimes struggle with that. Headache is the first sign of dehydration and so far that is not there, so I must have drinking enough.

We had one little mishap night when we did the tack in very bumpy seas. The new runner got caught around an antenna on the pullpit unnoticed and then a crunching metal sound told us something was wrong. The entire pullpit is deformed, luckily all lifelines are not affected by it, but it looks messy. Looks like we need a new one :-(

Of course you can react very angry, but that will not change the situation. In a situation like that the best you can do is. keep it positive, everybody is angry and upset, but for sure it will never happen again. Said that we have a huge tower on the back of the boat, it would have been way easier to have all the antennas on there and out of the way… that will be need to be done for the next generation of boats :-)

cheers,

Bouwe