Leg 3 of the Global Ocean Race, from Wellington, New Zealand, around Cape Horn, to Punta del Este, Uruguay, was always going to be a tough one, but the first two weeks have been even harder than imagined. All the weather GRIB files being downloaded on our Xtra-link provided Fleet Broadband 250 showed the Pacific high pressure system being very far south this year, promising easterly headwinds for most of the first two weeks, until we were near the mid-Pacific scoring gate where we could turn more towards the south and head directly towards Cape Horn.
The headwinds took their toll early with Buckley Systems retiring from the race when Ross Field was thrown violently across the boat in the rough conditions and injured his back quite badly. At about the same time Campagne de France retired, citing the risk of damage as being too great to continue beating for another 1 000 miles.
Aboard Phesheya-Racing the seas became so rough that we eventually resorted to heaving-to for several hours. At about this time we became aware of Tropical Cyclone Cyril forming in French Polynesia, and realised that it was forecast to recurve towards the Southern Ocean and cross our track as an extra-tropical gale towards the end of the second week at sea.
Realising that it would be almost impossible to beat around the south side of the gale we altered course towards the north, in order to try and reach the N and W winds coming off the top of the gale. The continual pounding as we beat our way northwards eventually took their toll and both of our autopilots stopped working. This is where Xtra-link really came to the rescue! Isolated on the fringes of a gale in the Southern Ocean with no autopilot, it was essential to have good communications with the autopilot manufacturer back in France in order to get things back in working order.
With almost 12 hours of time difference we worked through the night, emailing and phoning as we tried to trouble shoot the problem. Early in the morning we finally managed to jury rig our back-up pilot so that it would work. With the noise of the gale raging on deck, and the crashing waves, it could have been very difficult to communicate with the people in France, as we struggled with each others accents, but the fantastically clear line of the FBB 250 made it easy, even in what is almost the world’s most remote part of the ocean.
Once we got going again we continued to work our way NE, and were surprised to come across two fishing boats in the middle of nowhere! The second one of the two actually called us up on the radio and we had a long chat with them. The boat was the Betty H, a tuna fishing boat all the way from Hawaii! They have been at sea for three months so it was great for them to have some new company. In the end we swapped email addresses and promised to keep in contact. So now the Xtra-link communications system is even allowing us to keep in touch with people we have never met before!
Towards the end of the second week at sea we finally made it past the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Cyril, now reformed into an extra-tropical gale system, and the winds have suddenly shifted to aft of the beam. The weather system brought some remarkably warm (+20 C) air, but a lot of moisture in the form of mixed fog and rain. As it has moved away the skies have cleared and the temperature has remained mild as we await the arrival of our first “classic” Southern Ocean frontal system.

Nick & Phillippa