Photo sent from aboard the boat Medallia during the Vendee Globe sailing race on November 28, 2020. (Photo by skipper Pip Hare)
Pip Hare writes from Medallia, "Tonight has been just perfect. Conditions have just slightly altered, enough to allow me to power Medallia up and get her drive back and after days of kicking and thrashing we got our act together and shot off through the night. I hardly needed to lift a finger, just set it up and the autopilot did the rest. What a relief to be moving again, I must admit I thought I was going to be stuck doing 12 knots for the rest of the planet. Just a change in wind direction of 10 degrees has taken the hand brake off and made all the difference."
"To top it all we had a full moon early in the evening and this is something truly beautiful to experience at sea. When there is no other light pollution the moon is an incredible source of light. It lights the deck, the sails, it's path across the sea glitters silver, everything is bathed it's light, there are no need for torches, the world is lit up in monochrome. It was still cloudy so I could see few stars, the moon would disappear behind a cloud, not doing a very good job of hiding as it's light burned through the cloud edges making them look like they were full of energy and about to explode, the world would go dark for a few minutes then burst into light again as the cloud moved on. As Medallia's bow broke through the waves the water coming down the deck looked like molten silver. Just being on deck and experiencing these colours and sensations was a privilege.
I was on squall standby all evening, the radar checking ahead for any cloud action, but after a few hours dressed in my foul weather gear top, head torch on waiting for the action, my dozes became longer and it would appear I have been given the night off from any such activities. And so I sit while Medallia delivers me South and for the first time in days have a cup of tea, which I have realised I really missed.
We are just entering week 4 of the race, and this week I will leap off into the unknown, the point at which we turn left and make our way East and down into the Southern ocean is the point at which I will be entering the unknown. It's new territory for me and I am not a little bit nervous for what lies ahead. The route down to the south is looking far from simple and every day I have watched with interest the tracks of the front of the fleet, still battling high pressure when they expected to be riding the lows. I'm pleased this night has been a good one, I feel more rested and yesterday spent quite a bit of time working on Medallia, making small jobs and checks, putting things in order, tying up loose ends so when we get the opportunity to ride south in a couple of days I will be able to give it my full attention.
Meanwhile I am thankful to be out here in this beautiful ocean. Sure we have to deal with some intense and difficult situations in the ocean but we also get to see nature in it's most unadulterated form. The ocean is a stunningly beautiful place and I know I am lucky to see it in this way."