Disa - SV Disa, the Flying Machine

It’s Day 2 and no seasickness on board. Our pre-cooked quesadillas, chicken drumsticks and pigs-in-blankets kept us nibbling through watches of four hours during the day and three hours at night. Our crew is working like a well-oiled machine, pulling together and having fun.

We crossed the start line under sail, but soon realised that we would have to motor out, away from the island, in order to catch the wind stream. Our 1988 Amel Mango weighs in at 21 tons - she’s more like a tractor than a Ferrari, and yesterday she definitely needed a push start. So we motor-sailed for four hours, until we were getting a stronger, steadier wind. Then we cut the engine, hopeful that we won’t need to use it again on this leg of the rally.

This was the right decision. Overnight our boat sprouted wings and started flying. We have never seen these speeds on Disa before. We have the current with us and we are following the line recommended by Chris Tibbs, our rally meteorologist. For most of the night we were sailing at seven to nine knots, sometimes reaching ten. For one unbelievable moment we hit 11.1 knots.

It has been a comfortable night, with not too much rolling. Our Genoa is poled out on the port side and our main sail is as far over as possible to starboard. This wing-on-wing configuration is working well. Our boat feels nicely balanced and we are being carried forward on the big swell. We have a third alternator (thanks Mr Amel), which generates power from the propeller spinning in the water when under sail. This means that our batteries are completely full this morning. The sun is shining and it looks to be another glorious day.