Team SCA in the Volvo Ocean Race - What a start of Leg 2!

I will not lie: I was pretty nervous to begin leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race (Mom called it ‘Stage Fright’); I think the whole team was pretty nervous. Here we are, having confidently completed the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race—after 27 days at sea!—in waters most of us are experienced sailing in, but now we are heading into unknown territory.   Now, we are about to sail for another 25-30 days, and for some reason that feels a bit daunting. So, before the race began (when we were still on land), it was really hitting hard that we’re only at the beginning. But when the gun went off, those feelings all disappeared. 

What a start of Leg 2! It’s pretty rare to see wind gusts up to 40 knots, and an average wind speed of 25 knots, then no wind and total “park up” (all the boats stopped in one spot), and then back up to good breeze. However, the start of Leg 2 offered all the wind conditions you could want.

The best part of the variable wind conditions was it allowed for the “anything can happen” factor to come into play.

We picked our way around the course clean and organized, and by the time we were through the final gates we were leading the pack out of Cape Town along with Alvimedica! We were racing so close to Alvimedica it felt like my extremely long GoPro pole could touch them!

The send off was a display of nature’s epicenes: the Apostles, Lion’s head, and the backside of Table Mountain as the backdrop, a mesmerizing “table cloth” over Table Mountain, and a sunset to make any sailor’s heart skip a beat (“red sky at night, sailors’ delight”).

The night settled in quickly as the Team did with managing eating and sleeping. We tacked as we needed to and fingers crossed the tactics will pay off in the long run. This morning, we’re all within sight of each other, and to be back in this playing game is a really good feeling. The day is setting up to be quite a beautiful day and we’re all looking forward to sending it with the pack! (www.teamsca.com)