03.03.2011 Back to news

The 3rd Pacific gate

© Gilles Martin-Raget / Groupe Bel

We have just passed the 3rd Pacific gate, and now we are off for 24 hours of reaching... The sea state is utterly confused, the wind is unstable (going from 20 to 40 knots) and Groupe Bel is forcing her way through, without the slightest consideration for her crew. Unless it's the other way round!

In either case, it is stressful, wet, cold and very uncomfortable. The noise inside the boat is fairly unspeakable and I have no idea how we get used to the racket. It’s a subtle mix of all sorts of creaking and the muffled noise of tonnes of water crashing over the deck, and yet we sleep as though it were nothing… But do we have a choice?

It is bitterly cold today in the south-westerly wind and our hands and feet are starting to suffer.

The route to Cape Horn is littered with pitfalls, chiefly in the form of very deep low pressure systems, and even if the forecast gives us reason to hope that we will have fewer storms than those ahead, we are on our guard.

Kito/Seb
Latitude of Esmaralda (Chile)
Longitude of Vancouver (Canada)

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