After a few agonising hours in which the wind died and came back and
died and came back again and then changed direction and then again
changed direction and every time the GPS gave us a later earlier and
later and then again earlier estimated time of arrival we actually
managed to get quicker to the line then we thought. One more tack to
stay free from the rocks and that was it! First place. We were elated
and glad it was finally over. The way to Rio we did under engine and
with the main sail up. On the coast it was thundering and we ended up in
one of those thundery squalls. First it started to rain; it was
bucketing down! Then the wind started to pick up and within 5 minutes we
went from 6 knots to 36 knots and possibly more but I stopped looking as
I was too busy hoping the boom would not hit the water and we'd wipe
out (we had the full main up and the wind on the beam and in order to
remain upright and in control it was eased out quite a lot). After ten
minutes the wind died and we continued our journey to Rio in a drizzle
and in the dark. No grand-entree unfortunately but at the IATE CLUBE do
Rio loads of team mates and crews from other teams and family were
seeing us in. The beer tasted fantastic and it was really great to see
so many familiar faces.
