Maiden, Leg 3- Ocean Globe Race 2023

Leg 3- Ocean Globe Race

 Auckland, New Zealand to Punta del Este, Uruguay

14th January 2024- 16th February 2024

6514nm

33 days

After an incredible stop-over in Auckland, filled with family, fun and fleet bonding, we once again set out into the Southern Ocean. We were reunited with Rachel and Junella and also gained a new crew member with Capucine who had joined us from our neighbour L’Esprit D’Equipe. We were now 'half way there' and had massively improved as a team with our manoeuvres, helming and communication. We were keen to put all we had learnt on Leg 2 to the test and battle those Southern swells and big winds. 

The start took place just outside the Yacht Club. I had took some advice from my friend Julia who had grown up near Auckland and knew these waters and islands well as to the best route out of Auckland harbour, so we opted for clear wind and to take the Northern route around Rangitoto before bearing off towards the North Coast of the Coromandel's. We didn’t have the best start but overtook most of the fleet on the upwind tacks heading out of the harbour. A good omen came when I spotted a hammerhead shark swimming beside us when we were West of Rangitoto. (Anyone who knows me well, will know my love of sharks). 

Once we had found ourselves once again out of sight of land we found ourselves once again dodging a big high pressure system that had positioned itself NE of Chatham Island… These big high pressures just wouldn’t leave us alone! We spent some time in light winds, wearing shorts and T-shirts at below 45 degrees South- crazy for the Southern ocean.

Just like the last leg, we had some waypoints that we had to stay North of in order to keep the fleet out of the ice zone. The shortest route to the horn meant to get as close as possible to some of these. We were once again getting assistance from the wonderful Peter Mott aka Passage Guardian Radio and me and Rachel very much enjoyed chatting with him everyday. We had the chance to meet him in Auckland and finally could put a face to the voice!

A couple of weeks into the trip Rachel spotted a big orange object on the horizon, through the binoculars we couldn't completely see what this was. In the back of our minds we thought that it could possibly be a liferaft. As part of the forecasts we were getting from New Zealand, we had heard a notice to mariners talking about a missing sailing vessel. As a seafarer (and a human being) we had a responsibility to investigate what this was so with permission from the race committee we turned our engine on (we were in a light wind patch) and went to have a look. Thankfully it was not a liferaft but a huge orange fishing buoy so we turned around and motored back to our original position before turning our engine off and continuing with the race. Although it turned out to be nothing serious, I was proud of my crew for the compassion and integrity they showed. We did not know if in going to investigate we would have consequences on our race placing, but we did it anyway. Some things are more important than winning a race. 

On the approach to Cape Horn we were flying ‘big red’ our A4 (downwind asymmetric spinnaker) I can’t remember who but someone noticed that the bowsprit was no longer attached to the deck.., and sure enough when I came to investigate the spinnaker was flying from the bobstay alone. (thankfully we had installed the bobstay in South Africa, we had previously sailed without one) We quickly got the JT up and dropped ‘big red’. We found that the three bolts that previously successfully held the bowsprit down had sheared clean off the deck, which shows the forces on the boat at this point. As we were less then 12 hours away from going round cape horn and after this the trip would mostly be upwind, we decided to leave the fix until the sea state improved and less water was coming over the deck. We instead opted to goose-wing and use the pole to pole the JT out on the opposite side to the mainsail. We thought it would be quite badass to goose-wing past the formidable horn! However this was also not meant to be as a couple of hours later the pole track ripped off the mast… After this we decided that our fate was to sail conventionally past the horn. 

Disappointingly it was night-time when we finally made it ‘in sight’ of the horn. So although we could clearly see the lighthouse, we unfortunately didn’t see the rock itself. However we spoke to the lighthouse man and got everyone up to do the Cape Horn ceremony and made a sign out of a floorboard and electrical tape to take a group photo with. We then made offerings to Neptune as well as toasting to sailors past, present and future. Afterwards me and Rachel did a more private toast to Ben and scattered some of his ashes. I also toasted to Andy and Sarah- friends that I have lost to the ocean as well as to Norman and my Grandad who were both sailors I have lost (but not to the ocean). The albatrosses flew around to remind us that these people are still with us and watching over us whilst we are on this crazy adventure. I made a silent prayer to Neptune to thank him for keeping my crew safe and to ask him to continue to keep them safe. 

After rounding the Horn we were now turning North, heading out of the Southern Ocean we had grown to love and back into the Atlantic once again. We had worked out that the tides were favourable to go through the Le Marie strait, a passage of water between mainland Argentina and Isla de Los Estados, saving us some miles. 

The sun came out and I was woken up for watch with the call of ‘lets do another ‘Cape Horn’ photo, oh and can we put the swimsuits on?’ Famously in the 89-90 race the original Maidens had sailed into Fort Lauderdale wearing swimsuits- something that is still talked about  in the sailing community today! So as a nod to the incredible crew who had come before us, we put on our swimsuits and our pink shorts. It was still incredibly cold, we were at 56 degrees South, so to say that it was bracing was an understatement, so we paired this rather odd outfit with sailing boots and a beanie and had our ‘Cape Horn’ photo shoot. It is one of my favourite memories, the laughter and the grins on all my crew- I was incredibly proud of all they had achieved. Onboard we had the first black female crew members to race around Cape Horn, Maiden once again breaking glass ceilings in sailing. 

In our research of this area, me and Rachel had talked to a ship captain who had sailed in this area (Rachel had happened to do her radio course with him!) and he had warned us of lots of fishing activity between Argentina and the Falkland islands, both with fishing buoys and big Asian fishing fleets, and sure enough a couple of days after rounding the horn we came upon our first big fishing fleet. The horizon was lit up with hundreds of bright lights, we struggled to pick out their navigation lights and were unable to reach them on VHF. We had heard that they were pretty stubborn and likely wouldn’t follow the Collision regulations so we wanted to go around the whole fleet and steer well clear, but they just went on and on, miles upon miles of sea being pillaged of all of its marine life. And people wonder why I don’t eat fish! We successfully made it round them with not too much drama and saw another couple of big fleets on our way up the coast. 

Translated 9 were usually pretty good at turning up for our daily fleet chats, after a couple of days of not hearing from them we began to worry, and texted the race committee to let them know we hadn’t heard from them in a while. It may have just been that their HF equipment was broken but we wanted to make sure they were safe. After a couple of days, we did eventually heard from them again. Unfortunately it wasn’t good news- they had a crack in their hull so they were taking on water and had diverted to the Falkland islands to try and make a repair. After trying to make a repair in the shelter of the islands, they found that the damage was too big and they would need to be lifted to make a safe repair. This meant they were out of the running for the leg and the whole race. We were heartbroken for our friends onboard, but it was a big reminder that to finish first, first you need to finish. 

At this point, Pen Duick VI skippered by the great Marie Taberly was storming ahead and looked very likely to take the line honours as well as the IRC win so we focused our sights on Spirit of Helsinki. We had been pretty close to them the whole race, but it was a couple of days before the finish when we saw them on the horizon and now was our chance to hunt them down. We spent the next two days in a tacking battle, with them frequently in sight. You could cut the tension on board with a damp spatula. When there is another boat in sight your concentration is tripled. Despite our 7ft difference, we were still keeping up with them in a match race but we had our eyes set on crossing the line before them. The camaraderie between us and Helsinki had always been good, we had always had plenty of banter on the radio and this only got more intense as we got closer and closer to the finish. It was dark by the time land came into view and unfortunately we could see SOH’s stern light… they ended up crossing the line less then an hour ahead of us, an incredibly close finish. 

Our welcome to Punta was legendary! I knew it was always going to be an emotional one for me. Back in 2019, I had stood on that exact harbour wall and welcomed my dad into port after his first ocean crossing. One of my favourite memory's. This was also the time I first met Rachel! But nothing can prepare you for the noise and lights. I swear every boat in the harbour were honking their horns at us and so many people had showed up to see us come in. SOH were lined up on their boat next to us cheering us on. Reversing the boat into the harbour with all of that noise whilst my vision was blurred by tears and bright lights was pretty tricky and took a lot of concentration, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. 

When we were finally safely moored up Don come to inform us that we had an hour’s re-dress for our investigation of the potential liferaft so therefore we had come above Spirit of Helsinki in line honours. This meant that both the 1st and 2nd boat in line honours were skippered by the only two female skippers (and the youngest two…) It’s safe to say that there was much celebration that evening, with most of the two crews heading straight to the bar without showering, still in our thermals, too happy to care. Apologies to anyone in that bar who had to smell us…