Sophie Ciszek / MAPFRE

gender Female
Sophie on the rail: We are so close. We're coming up to the TSS, and we're gonna bear away. And we're 0.2 of a mile away from Brunel... we just gotta pass them. Joan looks at tablet, calls them being clear of the exclusion zone. Trying to punch through to leeward of Brunel. Drone shot of them gybing in front of AkzoNobel. Tamara, on the bow, talks in Spanish. Neti looks through binoculars. AkzoNobel crosses behind them. Neti talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: We're pushing hard, we take the first chance to overtake them, and we take it. Now we have to wait and see what happens with Dongfeng on the other side. Hopefully we keep ahead of Brunel, and the guys on the other side. We'll see.Xabi, in the cockpit, trims the main and talks in Spanish about tactical situation. Repeats in English: 70 miles to go, very complicated really. Yesterday we were going east down the Danish coast with Dongfeng, but the last weather forecast changed a little, and we decided that the westerly option was better. Unfotunately they are in front of us, and Akzo. Still a good downwind of 30 miles today, but we will keep fighting and see what happens. Brunel and AkzoNobel ahead of them. Joan at the nav station. Blair on the helm. Willy, Sophie, Blair and Neti on the bow. Xabi: Main on. Hold. Blair's salty hands. Two boats closer in front of them.Xabi, heading south in the pre-dawn, talks in Spanish about Dongfeng, Vestas, and Brunel. He repeats in English: Just going through the first night here, even if it doesn't look like it, 3:30 local time. After a not very good start of the day we've recovered quite well. Just passed the waypoint for Norway 2 hours ago. Now going downwind to Arrhuus. We were second there a half mile behind Dongfeng, and Brunel is a couple of boats behind, 8 miles upwind. It's going well. Hopefully we can get in front of Dongfeng soon. We see them rounding the buoy and deploying the A3, then see it again from the stern cam. Dongfeng on the bow ahead of them. Small powerboat alongside. Sophie bagging the J1. Dongfeng ahead and to starboard. Night vision shots of the crew on the bow, in the cockpit. Xabi talks with Sophie; trims the main.Prestart with 5-minute horn. Rob: About 40 seconds sailing, a minute sailing back, below layline. Start with Dongfeng, TTToP to weather, Tacking below AkzoNobel and Brunel to make the pin end of the line. Behind the other boats. Slomo spray. Jumper jumping. Slomo of Neti hiking. Going past the daymarker/tower. Pablo's upset on the wheel: Fucking hell mate. Rob: Yeah. Might have to just press through. [Looks like he's upset about TTToP right on their bow; chooses to dive below them.] Slomo of Brunel crossing them, TTToP crossing them. Pablo on the helm. Sophie: We got a bad start, weren't in line with the pin, and had to tack, and had to give Brunel room. Last over the line. We've tacked out now, and we're above everybody, so hopefully we can gain back on them. Plenty of opportunities, so we'll see what we can do.Xabi signs a woman's program/magazine. Woman: Good luck. Xabi: Thank you. Woman: Kick some ass. Xabi: We will try. Xabi leaves (hotel?) loads gear into a car. Driving in the car: Xabi: Going to the base now... Looked at the weather. Slept as good as we could. Had a breakfast. Joan is waiting. Have some lunch. Say goodbye to some freinds, and go out... Tamara signs a banner in teh base. She talks in Spanish. Sophie signs the other side of the banner. Neti talks in Spanish near the dock. He repeats in English: Has been quite crazy, all the support. All around the world, especially in my case with the Ñeti fans, since the start of the race, and even more now than ever. We'll push as good as we can. In Spain are a lot of good sailors in the Olympics, but it's true that the Volvo Ocean Race is one of the few things left in Spain. Glad to be part of this, and have the chance to give this trophy to Spain. Xabi and Bouwe talk with someone in a Dongfeng jacket. Dee comes up and gives Xabi a hug. Xabi points to Charles and asks her something. She replies: "Nah. I said, 'You're going down, Charles.'" Xabi hugs Witty. Xabi takes a photo with a woman; she turns him around and points to the "XABI" on the back of his jacket. Team photo on the dock. Xabi steps aboard, waves during the dockout.Sophie, below: Well, we've been fighting it out with Brunel. The last couple of hours they've been catching us. They're just faster. We've been trying everything we can. Sea state is pretty rough. Making it hard to go fast. They've actually overtaken us now, which is a shame, but we're right on their tail and trying to keep up. In about 60 miles we'll be at the bottom of Norway, and hopefully we'll be putting up the J0 (prouncing it "Joe") and bearing away a little, or getting lifted. And hopefully they don't get too far away from us, and it's not over till it's over. We all realize it's the second to last leg of the whole entire race, there's no point in sleeping. Might as well put in everything we've got to the finish line. Everything's putting everything they've got to get to the finish line in Gothenburg. Shots of Brunel passing them to weather. Looks like they're triple-reefed with J2/J3. MAPFRE crew in the cockpit. Slomo Xabi looking sad. Pablo on the helm, likewise sad. Blair: Sad. Shot of Brunel ahead of htem. Blair looking pissed, blinking the spray from his eyes.Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English. Just rounded the north point of Scotland. Two hours quite intense, sail changes and wind shifts. Still have Brunel and Dongfeng at 4 or 5 miles. Happy, because there's more compression and we still have them Brunel is the one who has cut the distance; now within 1 mile of Dongfeng. We need to win this leg. If we win this leg we will be leading again, and will put some points between Brunel and us, with Dongfeng on equal points. Sailing the boat is very hard. 24 hours to Sweden, and probably won't sleep very much. Slomo of Sophie bundled up in the cockpit. Slomo of Blair in a neoprene cowl. Compass. Tamara trimming. Blair on the foredeck. Willy with a halhard.Xabi wakes up Willy and Neti (I think?) to go to the J0. Spreader cam shots of pulling the sail off the stack, Blair and Willy rigging it on the foredeck. Neti goes forward with the tack, loses it in a big wave, then comes back to get it again. He and Willy on the bow. spreader cam shot of Sophie feeding it up at the mast. Slomo washing machine shots in the pit. Neti on the clew of the main as they reef. Willy coiling in slomo in the pit.Tamara, next to the stack aft, talks in Spanish. Mentions Dongfeng, light winds, changes, waiting for strong wind. Repeats in English: Now we are in the best position. It was a tough day for the rest of the fleet. Now we have to focus on our work, doing our best. We have a lot of miles, and all the teams want to win the race. And I think we have to work hard to try to keep leading this fleet to the end of the leg. Rob: Crossing the ridge to the west of Ireland was critical. Keeping east of the fleet seems to have worked out. Made a little extension. Now we're just VMGing down toward the Hebrides. Inside or outside; could split the fleet. Neti sleeping. Xabi at the nav station talking to Joan. Pablo on the helm. Blair grinding. Rob below, getting his foulies on. Sophie and Tamara stacking below. Gybe in the cockpit. Stacking in the cockpit. Rob and Joan at the nav station. Rob: Allright; VMG then. Crew in the cockpit. Xabi looking around.Sophie by the daggerboard. Last several hours in no wind, but have some breeze now; VMG downwind. Looked like other boats to weather were going to go around them. But have the pressure now, and look pretty even. Hopefully will gybe in a good position soon. (Her throat sounds scratchy.) Two other boats on distant horizon. Blair rigs for gybing. Sophie also rigs. Willy and Sophie rig for a sail change (J3 hoist?). Rob on helm with another boat 2 miles astern. Xabi and Joan talk in the cockpit.Xabi talks in Spanish about the start, competition. Repeats in English. Good start in Cardiff. Tricky conditions. But then the wind dropped to nothing and the guys behind got better wind in the middle of the channel. Could be worse. Now Dongfeng a little ahead of them, Brunel to weather. Now we need to work our way back into the lead. Brunel in glassy conditions. Blair talks strategy. Sophie up the mast to kick battens. Other boats: Vestas, Dongfeng, Scallywag. Drifting. Pablo on the helm. Sophie hosting a sail on the bow, stacking aft. Boat on the horizon ahead of them.Sophie explains there is no wind, and plenty of current. And they have the anchor built just in case. Postponement. No triangle, sausage; just go straight out. Pablo, on the helm, talks in Spanish. Blair, sitting on deck, talks about the low wind and big current. Helicopter noises. Race committee boat with 2:05 to star. Rob and Blair calling tactics in the cockpit at the start. In the prestart, they come toward Brunel on starboard, then tack while waving a protest flag. Committee boat green-flags it; Pablo throws the protest flag down in frustration. After the start they are ahead and to leeward of Brunel and Dongfeng. Rob calls for weight forward; trying to accelerate. Brunel, AkzoNobel and Vestas to weather. Drifting conditions. Willy on the bow. Brunel crossing behind them. Vestas sailing to leeward. Blair: "Here they go. Nice, nice, nice." Blair and Joan talk strategy and wind on the bow. Xabi trimming. Vestas on their weather quarter, then crossing behind them.Rob: Talks about transitions in the leg. Compressions. First boat in slows down and the others catch up. It varies. Sophie sits silent behind him. Rob expects they'll see more compressions, tidal compressions, in the Bristol Channel. Blair: about 24 hours out of Cardiff now. We're in pretty big trouble. We're in fifth place at the moment. Vestas is 30 or 40 miles ahead of us, and the others further than that. Looks like there won't be a complete compression. We'll keep going, but not on that good a shift at the moment. Sailed a few too many miles. We'll keep going; never give up. But not great at the moment. Pablo says something in Spanish; Blair steers behind him. Tamara looks serious. Sophie on the bowsprit hooks up a new sail. Looks like they're peeling J0 -> MH0.Sophie, on the bow in light conditions, talks about the compression that's happening. Knew it was coming, but it's super good to see the other boats. She points out Vestas and Dongfeng in front of them. Xabi, on the bow, talks in Spanish. He talks about Dongfeng ahead of them, and points out Vestas on the port beam. He repeats in English. 600 miles to go to Cardiff. He talks more in Spanish, repeats in English. After this leg hasn't gone well for them, this light spot is important to try to make a change. Hopefully they will be close and have more options south of Ireland. Making numbers all the time and they don't look very good for us right now. Dongfeng ahead, and have a boat between us. Going to be a big fight all the way to The Hague. Neti trims and talks in Spanish. Slomo shots of crew in the cockpit. Rob throws a coiled line. Sophie on the bow. Blair looks through binoculars for another boat. Xabi trimming. Vestas on the horizon. Dongfeng on the horizon. Crew on the bow.Surfing in big wind. Sophie trims on the stern: "Main on!" Neti grinds for her, then (I think) passes a piece of something to eat. Major washing machine shots. Slomo of Sophie making the shaka sign and grinning. Neti hugs the pedestal to withstand the water. Later we see Neti driving, Willy standing behind him, and Sophie sitting down behind the steering platform, facing aft, to drink from a water bottle. Favoriting mostly for that one slomo shot of Sophie.Joan talks below in Spanish. Lots of mention of wind. Rob, below: Right now we're not in great shape. The leaders, first 3 boats, have extended quite a lot. That may change in the ridge. Dongfeng not that far away. Scallywag probably going to overtake us in the next sched. Dee not far away. Podium still a possibility, but we're going to have to get some luck with the upcoming ridge. Joan talks more in Spanish; discusses the limit of the Gulf Stream. Rob: Had a very cold night last night. Water was down to zero at one stage. Passed an iceberg; could see it on the radar. Water's probably 10 or 12 now. More Joan in Spanish. Washing machine shots of the cockpit from the hatch. Slomo washing machine. Neti grinding. Crew putting on foulies below. Stern cam shots of big spray. Sail change: Hoisting the FR0. Sophie wrestling the sail. Spreader cam shots of the sail change. Drone shots of them triple-heading wiht the FR0 and full main: Must be in lighter wind than some of the other boats. Looks like 20 knots of wind or less from the sea surface. Favoriting for those drone shots at the end.Pablo, on the stern, talks in Spanish about the current situation with the northern and southern boats. He repeats in English: Last few days quite intense. Some boats went south and some went north, and now we're converging. In the last few scheds we gained quite a few miles. Hope that continues. In one day and a half we'll converge completely, hopefully in front, but even behind as long as we're close and can keep fighting. Blair, trimming the main: Heading toward the ice gate. Dongfeng 30 miles ahead of them. Did well against them in the last sched. And that pack that rode the front a day longer than we did. We've done well against them for the past few scheds; now they've got the breeze. So... play on. Sophie on the pedestal in her cold-weather gear. Sailing fast. Slomo washing machine. Joan, at the nav statio, reads a sched in Spanish. Stern cam and spreader cam views of them sailing fast with a double-reefed (triple-reefed?) main. Spreader cam view of the foredeck.Xabi summarizes the first 2 days of the leg in Spanish. Discusses the complicated conditions, the relative positions of the northern and southern groups. Tamara, on the bow as they flop, talks in Spanish. Xabi repeats his summary in English. First time they've seen such a big split in the race. Very slow for them and Dongfeng and TTToP. The fleet in the south always kept in front of the front. They have a lot of work to do now to get to the north. They look quite strong. We need to wait and see. Tamara repeats her comments in English: In a transition. Hard to wait for the wind. Hope they'll be sailing fast soon. Xabi trims. Sophie and Blair grind. Stacking forward. Flopping. Xabi rubs his head. Instruments show them doing 3 knots. Drone shot of them floopping from above the masthead, then low and alongside in very flat water.Xabi, at the helm motoring out, talks in Spanish. Sophie: Super nice to be back on board. Not fun sitting on the sidelines. Gonna be pretty windy, and that's exciting. And we all realize how well it is to do well on this leg. Rob: This is probably the most important leg of the race for a lot of teams. So we'll be giving it everything. First time to the UK since 2005, which was his first race. Looking forward to arriving; hope they arrive in daylight. Slomo parade with wacky slowed-down audio. Xabi says goodbye to young boy, who puts his hands over the lens. Spectator boat with MAPFRE on the side waves and blows horns. Sailing upwind with Dongfeng to leeward. Slomo of Tamara tailing. Dongfeng on their weather quarter with the A3 up. More slomo grinding. Brunel crossing astern on a downwind leg. Sailing past the bridge. Slomo behind AkzoNobel heading into fog as someone (Blair?) gets doused on the bow. Dongfeng on their hip as they reach in the fog.Sophie, on deck: My best was for 11:08 pm on the 8th, but I'm totally regretting it now that we have this nice pressure. I think I'm not going to win. Willy, on the wheel, talks in Spanish about his bet. Neti talks about his bet (also in Spanish). Pablo: talks about their arrival in Spanish. Blair: 12 local time on the 8th. I'm looking good... Bit of fun, anyway. Neti is the one that draws it up on the board. Neti talks in Spanish. Blair: Rob's already talking about how there's going to be another buy in. Rob: My times are 2:30-3:30 in the afternoon, local time. And also 9:30 at night. But the ETA's moved forward, so I think my time might be late. I might buy in again; 50 Euros. Xabi, in the wheel, talks in Spanish. We see the whiteboard below with the bets recorded. (I note that Ugo has a bet. Also, Pablo is listed as "PATAN"?)Sophie, on the bow: It is what it is I guess. Boredom has set in. Getting lots of sleep, and eating what bits of food we have... Have to admit the racing vibe on board is kind of relaxed... Just doing what we can to get there. We're all feeling a bit tired of the situation and looking forward to getting in. Instruments. Sophie and Blair lounging on the foredeck. Blair looks at a small notebook.Rob steers as MAPFRE reaches with FR0, J2, and J3 but no main. Ñeti, below, talks about the conditions. Blair, below, talks aobut how they've had the main down below since leaving the Horn. Repair is curing and doing a little more hand-stitching. Time to put it up and hopefully it holds together. But it's quite a big repair, so we'll wait and see. Shot of main below. Crew wrestles the sail up. Neti: has been 36 hours since we did the track. Which is good. Shots of Rob at the back of the boom. Hoisting the main. Spreader cam view. Main hoisted. Main flying. Sophie to Neti: Shake my hand. (They shake.) Sophie: Congratulations. Neti: Looks quite good. The track is also good. Looks like the glue is working perfectly. Now we have to be conservative at the beginning. Hopefully we can keep the mainsail in one piece. Don't have much glue. But hopefully it works.Night-vision crash cam view; looks like they stuffed the bow and did a round up. Slomo of two sailors in the cockpit (I think maybe Rob and Sophie?) giving a peace sign and a thumbs up, respectively. Willy and Blair by the mast setting the outrigger in epic surfing conditions. Slomo of surfing. Crew in the cockpit. Wake shot, surfing. Ugo's out in it to get these shots. Good stuff. Blair, below, his breath and steaming body backlit from the companionway.Rob, in red light below, says as expected wind has built to 35-40 knots. Borderline survival conditions. Willy, below, talks in Spanish. Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. Something involving his gloves. Sophie, below, says when you're holding the mainsheet it's always wet. "For me that's the coldest time for my hands. It's basically painful." The other thing about doing the main, she says, is that you're not really moving. "So after an hour and a half of that you get pretty cold." Willy talks in Spanish. Rob: In previous Southern Ocean legs got massive torrents of water through the boat, wiping out the helmsman. So we've built a wave breaker, which is on leeward side now so it's useless. Slomo shots on deck. Shot of the "wave breaker" (a mesh on the railing in front of the wheel) on the starboard (leeward) wheel.Slomo washing machine in the cockpit, with camera being washed into th wheel. Below, Stacey: "It's hard work, actually." Surfing and plowing into the waves brings water over the deck. It's cold, and 45 knots. More slomo washing machine shots. Someone on the stern (I think Phil?), trimming the main, has a whole discussion about how bad the conditions are, how it's cold and no one's talking. "Am I scared? No. A little bit bored and friggin' cold." This isn't his idea of an ocean race to Brazil. "How many days is it to Cape Horn? Four." He calls out to TJ on the pedestal: Which would he prefer: the doldrums or this? TJ: "Neither!" Nick: "We went from 8 miles behind Dongfeng, took our mainsail down, and somehow ended up 3 miles behind them." Jeremie laughs; "maybe take the main down!" Nick: "That's what we said; make it way easier." Slomo washing machine. Favoriting for Jeremie's getting out in the elements and getting such good personal stuff; really conveys what it feels like to be in the cockpit on these boats in these conditions.Rob, in red light below, says as expected wind has built to 35-40 knots. Borderline survival conditions. Willy, below, talks in Spanish. Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. Something involving his gloves. Sophie, below, says when you're holding the mainsheet it's always wet. "For me that's the coldest time for my hands. It's basically painful." The other thing about doing the main, she says, is that you're not really moving. "So after an hour and a half of that you get pretty cold." Willy talks in Spanish. Rob: In previous Southern Ocean legs got massive torrents of water through the boat, wiping out the helmsman. So we've built a wave breaker, which is on leeward side now so it's useless. Slomo shots on deck. Shot of the "wave breaker" (a mesh on the railing in front of the wheel) on the starboard (leeward) wheel.Slomo washing machine in the cockpit, with camera being washed into th wheel. Below, Stacey: "It's hard work, actually." Surfing and plowing into the waves brings water over the deck. It's cold, and 45 knots. More slomo washing machine shots. Someone on the stern (I think Phil?), trimming the main, has a whole discussion about how bad the conditions are, how it's cold and no one's talking. "Am I scared? No. A little bit bored and friggin' cold." This isn't his idea of an ocean race to Brazil. "How many days is it to Cape Horn? Four." He calls out to TJ on the pedestal: Which would he prefer: the doldrums or this? TJ: "Neither!" Nick: "We went from 8 miles behind Dongfeng, took our mainsail down, and somehow ended up 3 miles behind them." Jeremie laughs; "maybe take the main down!" Nick: "That's what we said; make it way easier." Slomo washing machine. Favoriting for Jeremie's getting out in the elements and getting such good personal stuff; really conveys what it feels like to be in the cockpit on these boats in these conditions.Ñeti talks below in Spanish; I hear him mention Dongfeng. On deck he trims, talks with Willy in the cockpit in Spanish. Slomo of three sailors, including Sophie, on the bow. Sail repairs below in red headlamps.Parade out to the boat. Someone shouting, "¡Vamos! ¡Vamos!" Blair thanks the crowd; tussles a kid's hair. Shakes hands, gives kisses, makes the shaka sign. Blair and Tamara wave as they dock out. Blair and Xabi fist-bump. Lots of fans. Start. Ñeti on the bow gives distance to the line. AFter the start, sailing with the other boats. Rob: "Bit of a righty here." They call to Dongfeng: "You tack!" They tack. Close duck by TTToP, Vestas. Grinding. Comig into the leeward mark. Dongfeng close astern. Slomo of Ñeti on the bow. Blair fiddling with the clew. Sophie and Tamara stacking the J3.Parade out to the boat. Someone shouting, "¡Vamos! ¡Vamos!" Blair thanks the crowd; tussles a kid's hair. Shakes hands, gives kisses, makes the shaka sign. Blair and Tamara wave as they dock out. Blair and Xabi fist-bump. Lots of fans. Start. Ñeti on the bow gives distance to the line. AFter the start, sailing with the other boats. Rob: "Bit of a righty here." They call to Dongfeng: "You tack!" They tack. Close duck by TTToP, Vestas. Grinding. Comig into the leeward mark. Dongfeng close astern. Slomo of Ñeti on the bow. Blair fiddling with the clew. Sophie and Tamara stacking the J3.Drone shots of sunrise (?) with islands in the distance. A competitor is 3 miles ahead of them. High drone shot of islands. Blair: Awesome seeing the Three Kings in the morning. Pretty surreal sailing down the coast now. Flyby by a helicopter, a fishing boat. A plane flies overhead doing acrobatics. A boat comes alongside. Another boat comes alongside with MAPFRE flags flying. Xabi: So hard to overtake Dongfeng. Pablo: Only 150 miles to go; we have them less than a mile in front. Xabi: Catching them a little bit. New Zealand flag on the backstay. Sophie going aloft. Dongfeng to leeward. Blair spots TTToP through the binoculars. Willy talks about compression being expected. Chance to pass them, but it's remote. Joan: Seeing the race leaders in front. Light air for a bit. Just saw AkzoNobel was winning the race; on the AIS only 7 miles. Willy: Last 100 miles you're all on deck. Xabi looks through binoculars. Xabi trimming. Rob on the helm. Alongside Dongfeng a few boatlengths away. Dongfeng astern. Other boats ahead of them and inside. Dongfeng close behind in the sunset. Sophie rigging the J2 for hoisting. Triple heading. Dongfeng close behind them. Sophie: This was our first good opportunity to get past them. Have had 80% of the race at the back of the fleet. The vibe on the boat hasn't been good. Being back up now, gaining these miles, and can see Akzo over there; it's really exciting. Not giving up, fighting to the end.Tamara, in the galley, talks in Spanish about food preparation. Closeup of the burner. Food prep. Sophie: "Twenty days of freeze-dried food is not very nice." Blair: it keeps up the energy. Sophie: Getting pretty hard to eat. Willy: Talks in Spanish about the food. Tamara talks in Spanish about the food. Beef hot pot. Chicken marsala, topped off with some chicken and noodles. They all talk about wanting fresh food when they arrive. Fruit and veggies.Xabi talks about how the weather has been changing, and there's a big split in the fleet. Louis: Dongfeng about 8 miles behind. Hopefully get a chance to catch Brunel in the next few days. Wind changes so quickly in the New Zealand that the forecast is changing every 4 hours. Anything can happen. Shadow on the sail as Louis takes the tack of a sail forward. Willy and Tamara grinding as Louis works the foredeck on a sail change. Sophie grinding. Xabi trimming.Everyone answers the question: What is MAPFRE's secret weapon? Tamara: Answers in Spanish. Willy: Answer's in Spanish. Louis: Xabi. Xabi is the secret weapon. Blair: Willy. Willy: (With Dongfeng behind him as he trims): Answers in Spanish. Pablo: Answers in Spanish. Rob: Our optimism. We're all very hopeful. Tamara: Talks in Spanish. Rob: Coffee, and looking forward to your next sleep. Willy: In Spanish. Xabi: In Spanish. Pablo: In Spanish. Xabi: In Spanish. Sophie: Talks about how the fact that you're racing keeps you going despite the fatigue. Joan: Talks in Spanish. Blair: Staying positive; trying to keep the boat going as fast as you can.Pablo talks in Spanish on deck. Drifting in glassy conditions with huge clouds in the distance. The keel. Dongfeng sailing about two boatlenghts away to weather. Dongfeng rolls them. Sophie on the bow. "I think they were quite happy to pass us. We are officially last." She waves to them. Blair and Xabi trim while watching them. Then Dongfeng is behind them again, yay! Drone shots of the two boats sailing a few boatlengths apart.Below, Willy talks in Spanish about the fleet, compression, competition. Blair, on deck in the sunset, talks about how the last sched wasn't very good for them. Not stoked to be in this position. Just trying to make our way toward the bottom of the Solomons as quickly as they can. Nice seeing another boat (Dongfeng); helps them push harder. Dongfeng a mile away. Drone shot with Dongfeng in the distance. Drone shot of Sophie working on the bowsprit.Louis, in the cockpit, talks about how the last few days have been challenging. Transitions. Sail changes all night. Other boats have come past them with pressure. In the back of the fleet now. Lot of transitions to go. Trick is not to get too happy when you're in front, not get too sad when you're behind. Just keep on sailing. Sophie on the bow: Back in the doldrums, I guess. Half an hour of sleep in the last two off watches. Xabi talks in Spanish. Sailing with wind, then flopping as Joan points out wind. Xabi comes up with a tablet and reads a bad sched. "We lost 16." High drone shot of them flopping with no wind, then a drone shot of them sailing on starboard with a raincloud on the horizon beyond them.At the nav station, Xabi talks in Spanish about wind, the competition. Then he talks on deck, still in Spanish. At nav station, Joan talks in English about weather forecasting. Tricky to find a balance between staying with the fleet and believing their own weather routing. When weather is more uncertain, keep an eye on the fleet more. Other times have more confidence in your forecast. Xabi at the nav station. Stacy triming. Rob grinding. Dongfeng close astern. Drone shots showing both boats in the sunset.Below, Joan explains that they have just passed the Phillippines, and have about 370 miles to go to the finish. Tricky, because there's a lot of traffic (oh yeah) and they don't always have lights. Sophie on deck: "The most enjoyable part of this leg for me was the start. Was sad to leave home, but it was really cool to go down the bay, and then turn left and go down the coast where I grew up surfing." Willy talks in Spanish. Louis: "There hasn't been a best part of the leg, man. THIS is the best part of the leg, because we're a day from the dock." Támara talks, laughing, in Spanish. Blair talks about the tradewind sailing, that being the highlight. Louis: "The worst part of the leg was when we came out of the doldrums and pretty much were dropped by the entire fleet." Willy talks in Spanish. Sophie: "Some of those days in the doldrums. They were pretty tough." Blair talks about the doldrums. Támara talks in Spanish. Sunset. Gybing with land behind them. Rob, on the helm, smiles. Islands. Drone shots of them sailing past islands.On deck, Xabi talks in Spanish. Sunrise shots; Rob steering, Sophie brushing her teeth on the stern. Támara grinding, Louis trimming.Crash cam / stern cam footage of Pablo, trimming, slipping from the high side of the cockpit all the way to the winch on the leeward side. Amusingly, he gathers in the sheet he's trimming over his head the whole way, so it never actually slips on the winch. We see the same fall from the perspective of Ugo's hand-held camera in the companionway, and then zoom in on someone (Xabi?) giving a thumbs up from the mainsheet near the helm and calling out, "Trim on!" Blair puts sunscreen on in the cockpit, his sunglasses pushed up on his forehead as water cascades over the deck. "Plenty of mayonnaise" (?). "Fuck it feels good to be boosting again! Later, doldrums!" A wave comes over and douses him, knocking his sunglasses off his head. He scampers to the stern to retrieve them before they can wash out the open cockpit. Shot of Sophie climbing out on the outrigger to tighten the J0 leech cord. Slomo of her working her way back through the cockpit in the washing machine. Támara gets spray in the face. Someone (Louis?) goes up the mast to the masthead with a GoPro camera (which I now know, due to The Boat Feed, is actually a Garmin, but I'm going to keep calling it GoPro here for consistency).Rob, on the wheel, sails in about 10 knots of wind on starboard gybe. "It's been difficult. It's certainly been the hardest doldrums crossing I've ever been involved with." Blair talks about 4 or 5 days since the Solomons. "Not much fun at all." Támara talks in Spanish. Sophie talks about how frustrating it has been, how long it has been. Blair doesn't want to say they're out, because that's come back to bite them before. Rob talks about the 3 boats to the east popping out into the tradewinds and making big gains. Blair reads the sched from a tablet. Shakes his head. "Don't look at that anymore." Pablo talks about the competition in Spanish. Xabi: "It's quite painful to be where we are. Especially when a few days ago we were within a mile of the leaders." Have to fight hard now to get back into position. Pablo talks some more about the competition in Spanish. Sophie and Willy grinding; Sophie on the foredeck as they hoist an inside headsail with a rainbow in front of them. Drone shots of them triple-heading in front of the sunset.Joan, in the cockpit, talks in Spanish as MAPFRE flops with no wind under cloudy skies. Rain; slomo of Sophie, Joan, Xabi grinding in the rain. Sophie and Támara on the bow in the rain. Moving fast in the squall, and... becalmed again. Crew looks for wind; Xabi discusses it. Blair hauls the clew aft.Standing in the galley, Joan talks in Spanish. On the helm, Pablo talks in Spanish. I'm picking up "hot" and "tired". Louis, below, shirtless and sweating: "It's really hot at the moment. It's very difficult to sleep." He shows the spritzer and spritzes himself with water. Támara, lying down in the bow, talks in Spanish and laughs. Sophie looks down through the hatch, talks about shade being important. Blaire, trimming, talks about heat and sun protection. Below, in the galley, he talks about the fresh water being warm, and the fact that the watermaker is getting much more of a workout than in the Southern Ocean. On the foredeck, Támara talks in Spanish, I think about her drinking water being hot. She and Blair construct a sun shade from the stack and an outrigger. On the helm, Pablo talks in Spanish. Blair puts on sunscreen. Below, Louis spritzes himself. Late in the afternoon, they get some wind and start moving. Everyone is looking to starboard. The view shifts in that direction, and we see why: AkzoNobel, less than a mile away to leeward and slightly ahead; behind them, two more boats: I think Vestas to the left and Dongfeng to the right. Night shot with AkzoNobel just a boatlength or two behind them.We see Ugo launch the drone, which flies away. MAPFRE drifts on a glassy ocean. Very low-altitude drone shots that circle the boat, first farther away and then close.At one point we see a distant competitor ahead and to leeward. We see Sophie's silhouette on the bow as they hoist the J1 (or maybe it's just that the J1 is set with a loose halyard for drifting/windseeking conditions).Sophie, invisible in the dark, talks about how it's been painful. Not a lot of wind, Dongfeng is a long way ahead and AkzoNobel has passed them... Quite frustrating. Xabi's voice, announcing AkzoNobel's position. Crew stacking forward on the bow in red headlamps. Views of stars, sounds of slow sailing. In the dawn, Blair holds the clew of the J1 as they flop. Talks in detail about how frustrating it is, how a big cloud came through and compressed the fleet. They went from furthest north boat and the fleet compressed and sailed around them. Daybreak now; it's fully glassed. AkzoNobel was most frustrating; went from 2 miles behind them before the cloud to 6 miles in front, sailing a half-mile to leeward of them. Willy, sitting on the lowered J1 on the bow, talks in Spanish about the wind and the competition. Blair on the helm. Sunrise. Glassy conditions. Rob on the helm. Joan looking around. Willy and Blair sit under the clew of the MH0, talking.Sophie, on the aft pedestal, summarizes where they stand. Have gained back on the two lead boats, AkzoNobel and Dongfeng. Blair, trimming, talks about how they caught sight of the other two boats that morning sooner than they expected; MAPFRE got some good pressure and the other two boats got stuck a little too low, such that "Vestas and us caught them a little bit." Now into tradewind sailing. Now they're in the same wind so it's all down to boatspeed. Maybe there will be more clouds at night that allows for bigger gains and losses. Sophie: "I think we're all pretty excited to be back at the front of the fleet." Willy stands at the shrouds looking up at the sails. Shot of Dongfeng ahead of them. Támara looking forward. Sunset. A bird (a Brown Booby, I think) flies above the masthead. Pole shots of the rudder, the wake.Lightly attended dockout parade. Motoring out, Xabi talks while steering. Pretty sure he misspeaks, saying, "we're starting Leg 4 from Melbourne to Auckland" (rather than Hong Kong). Happy with how things are going, and with the crew. Only team not changing the crew. There's a shot of Joan at the nav station with a bunch of crew hovering behind him as he explains something. Then (weirdly) the audio cuts out as the video continues. Then we see the dockout from the deck. Rob, on deck, says he's surprised at the number of crew changes happening. Their aim was to keep the same crew as much as they could. Xabi, on the wheel, says he hopes their time sailing together can give them an advantage. Shots of the start. After the start, Louis stacks the J3 forward. Shot of Brunel ahead of them and to leeward. Sophie shifting the stack to leeward. Slomo spray. Epic spray on the bow engulfing Louis. Vestas ahead of them and to leeward as they reach down the coast. Willy in slomo spray.MAPFRE, having finished the leg first, motors into Melbourne in the dark. Sophie, visibly tired (for her; meaning she's just barely not at 100% enthusiasm) talks about how amazing it feels to have won. "It's awesome, we've got a good lead on the whole fleet now, shows we're a pretty strong team. Especially in all conditions." Talks about how the leg was physically hard, pushing to their limits. Shows they're a solid team, strong, never going to give up. "I was just chatting wiht Louis now on the bow, and if we can handle that kind of situation we can pretty much handle anything out there. So anything after this is going to seem easier." Talks about how it's just a pitstop in Melbourne, they have a few more days than some other teams. Boat's in good shape; could go sailing tomorrow. So they're good.Sophie, below, stands close to the companionway. She is turning her head under a blast of air associated with the running engine, maybe? "I just found my hair dryer. It's so good. Ah! Who needs the hairdresser? For the first time getting dry hair. It's getting pretty cold out actually. I'd say the water is 5 degrees or colder. The Southern Ocean's awesome. We are making a lot of miles very quickly. We're going good I think. The albatross are pretty cool. There's like 10 of them following the boat. It's super cool. But it's pretty wet and a little relentless. It's what we expect I guess. It's a little crazy." Intercut with shot of the cockpit, slomo washing machine, albatrosses behind the boat. Nice portrait by Jen of my unproblematic fave.Crash cam footage from the stern cam. Rob is on the helm as MAPFRE surfs in high wind on port gybe. He gets washed off the wheel (and his life vest appears to be inflated already? it certainly is afterward). They broach; Louis runs forward to ease the jib. I think I hear Sophie's voice at one point, too? But I don't see her. Presumably she's trimming the main sheet, behind the helm.Blair grinds the middle pedestal. Sophie on the mainsheet: "Hold." Xabi talks to her; they both grind. Xabi, to Jen: "It's all going pretty well." Talks about other boats around them: Dongfeng, Vestas, AkzoNobel, Brunel. "Tricky wind; up and down and very shifty." Gybing early morning. Pablo talks in the cockpit about the routing. "Maybe we do... 50 knots?" Sophie: "Fifty? Oh.. my... god.." Xabi on the helm: "We won't do 50." Pablo: "Right now the routing says that." Sophie: "And that's... 20 knots?" Xabi: "Yeah." Xabi, to Jen: "It's looking like real windy, next days... In a couple of days, 40 plus for a couple of hours." Talks about the ice gate. So get rest and food now, for later. Jen: "Any advice for me?" Xabi, smiling: "For you? It's gooa be good. It's gonna be rough (shrugs) and cold. Good fun." Sophie and Pablo convo continues, about how long it's going to be: up to 6 days. Sophie, to Jen, talks about making sure she's organized, has the right gear on, try to rest as much as she can tonight. "Just take it as it comes." Jen: "Any advice for me." Sophie laughs. Blair, from the pedestal: "Hold on." Sophie: "Hold on, Jen. Stay down below if you want to." Blair: "Have a nice stay in your bunk. That's what I'd do if I could." Shot of AkzoNobel on their starboard quarter.Docking out; waving to the shore. The start, with other boats converging on them from the weather side. Pablo on the helm; Sophie on the grinder as they interact with Brunel just below them. Someone (Blair?) calls out: "Come down, come down!" Shot of them overtaking Vestas from astern and to weather. Sophie holds a protest flag up; Brunel's bow is visible to weather. Vestas to leeward. Slomo of going to weather on port tack. Slomo of Sophie and someone else (Joan?) grinding on the aft pedestal. Dongfeng unfurling their FR0 (or J0?) to weather of them. Below, his face in shadow, Xabi talks about the leg so far. Good start around the triangle, now going upwind in almost 40 knots. "Right now we're fighting hard with Dongfeng and Brunel so we're very happy." Slomo of Támara in the cockpit cringing away from spray. Slomo of spray curling over crew in the cockpit, backlit by the sunset. Below, Xabi talks about how well the crew is doing so far. Cold and windy, but it's going to be like that for the next two weeks. Slomo spray on deck, double(?)-reefed main, Cape of Good Hope (?) in the distance. Below, Pablo leans against a bag labeled SURVIVAL SUITS, sleeping.Shot of foulies hanging below. On deck, Sophie is bundled up. She talks about how it's become colder and all the clothes she's wearing. Not going to go much further south, though. Pretty cold at night, but not as bad in the day. Windier, so wet, so that adds to the cold. Támara, in a cowl, puts sunscreen (?) on her lips and cheeks. Slomo closeup of Rob scowling in his ear-flaps hat. Below, in the galley, Ñeti makes coffee. He talks in Spanish. On deck, trimming the mainsheet, he drinks it. From the cabin, he hoists his coffee mug to the camera.Willy talks in Spanish: "I miss land in general." Rob, on the helm, talks about missing things on shore: "Communication with the outside world, human interaction." Támara talks in Spanish. Sophie: "Not having any nice food, fresh food, veggies." Xabi talks about the good sched and where they stand compared to Dongfeng and the competitors behind them. Rob talks about the hydrogenerator, how much they've been using it. Xabi and Joan at the nav station. Willy goes up the mast; shot of them grinding him up in the cockpit, him calling to them to stop. Sunset. Very-low-altitude drone shots.In the cockpit, Sophie works on the disassembled mainsheet winch drum. Sophie: "It's like winch school at SCA. When I was on SCA I learned quite a lot about winches." Ñeti talks about the hydrogenerator. Pablo talks in Spanish. Closeup of the hydrogenerator. Blair, on the helm, talks about Rio, and about winning the gold medal at the Olympics. Blair: "It's an awesome city and I have very fond memories of it."Pablo, on the middle pedestal, grinds as he talks about the competition, about how when you're close you have to keep pushing or you will lose out to the other boats. Rob, on the helm, talks about how conditions are always changing. Blair, on the aft pedestal with his equator-crossing reverse mohawk, talks about the constant trimming. Blair, gesturing to their port quarter and then to their starboard bow: "So far we're doing all right, but we're very close to Brunel here behind us and Dongfeng down here." Xabi and Sophie in the cockpit. Robs talks about how they're on a drag race south with no tacks or gybes. Rob: "Obviously we're always pushing hard." He talks about how this will not decide the race, that it will probably be decided in the south Atlantic. Slomo shots of Támara trimming, Rob on the helm, Xabi looking forward.Sunrise. Sophie, sitting aft in the cockpit, summarizes their situation. Dongfeng is 6 miles ahead, and they seem to be stretching out on the fleet behind a little bit. Wind is moving aft; currently true wind angle is 110 degrees. Closeup of a hand-bearing compass dangling from the binnacle railing. Sophie trims the mainsheet. Closeup of the mainsheet winch drum. Blair, on the low side, eases a headsail sheet. Distant shot of Dongfeng ahead of them. Winch closeup. A group of three in the cockpit: Ñeti on the mainsheet, Rob on the helm, Joan looking to weather. Joan: "It might get lighter initially under the cloud, and then there might be a little push." Rob steers and trims main; Támara grinds. Ñeti, on the foredeck, helps hoist a sail (maybe the MH0?). Pablo grinds in the cockpit, grimacing.Sophie brings a wrapped present from below and leads the crew in singing 'Happy Birthday" to Joan. Joan talks at the nav station in Spanish. Rob talks at the nav station about the equator and King Neptune. Blair talks to Ugo about how they're both pollywogs. Ñeti talks in Spanish. Támara talks in Spanish.Sophie, on the foredeck in the warm sun, shows how the J3 bag is torn. Sophie: "Well, this is what a bunch of water over the deck will do to your bag. So I'm going to try to sew it up so we can use it again." Shots of Sophie sewing. She talks about how the calm weather is a nice time to dry out and fix things for the next windy patch. Willy, on the helm, talks in Spanish. Shot of Rob, shirtless, on the wheel. Clothes drying on deck. Crew sleeping in the bow. Rob doing pushups. Sophie: "We're all warming up now, and taking our weather gear off. Hopefully we'll get some rain clouds soon and we can pull the soap out and have some showers. Clean ourselves, it'll be good. We're all sweaty and pretty gross at the moment." Willy and Sophie continue to talk about the doldrums and showers. Behind Sophie we see AkzoNobel a few miles east of them. Sophine puts the J3 back in the repaired bag. At sunset we see AkzoNobel, now on the west side of them silhouetted by the sun.It's afternoon, with MAPFRE heading south on port gybe in about 10 knots of wind. Ñeti, at the middle grinder handles, talks in Spanish. Pablo pops into view and says something in Spanish. Sophie, at the shrouds: "It's a little bit frustrating, because it looks like they have a little more pressure, and we're trying to catch them. I think when you have another boat in sight, especially in front of you, the whole boat is working as hard as they can. It give syou something to push for. We just changed sails [to the A3, visible behind her]." Ñeti talks more in Spanish. Shot of crew shifting the stack. Sophie on the foredeck helping to hoist the A3. Crew in the cockpit grinding. Ñeti, on a halyard, goes out to the clew of the A3. Wide (pretty) drone shot of MAPFRE in the sunset. Blair, on the helm as MAPFRE sails on starboard gybe in the morning: "The last 24 hours on average for us have been a little bit bad; we've lost a lot on Dongfeng, Vestas, and AkzoNobel, but in the last hours of the night or very early morning we've gained on them very quickly and have them right here." [gestures to the port quarter] Pablo talks in Spanish about the competition. Shot of crew working in the cockpit; shot of AkzoNobel, slomo telephoto shot of AkzoNobel.Pablo, below in his foulies, still wet from coming off the deck: "The crew is performing very good. We are all very happy. We are figthing hard, because the beginning of the leg is very important." Blair, below, in progress on getting out of his foulies with sunscreen on his face: "It was cetainly a pretty fast start. Wind's a little lighter now. Managed to get some sleep. Lots of gybing. Everyone's a little bit tired but not too bad." Pablo: "This morning we were leading, we were in front of the boats, probably a little furthe south than them. Then we had to gybe... Dongfeng crossed our bow. Now we are getting to Madeira." Slomo shots on deck: tailing line, spray, Xabi on the helm, bow spray, Pablo on helm. Sunset shots of Mapfre running fast on starboard gybe. Sophie stadning on the stern trimming the mainsheet. Ñeti on the stern with the mainsheet talks in Spanish about the wind, passing Madeira, the other boats.Joan, below, talks about how windy it has been, with up to 30 knots. Got lifted as they headed offshore, then gybed to the south. Xabi, below in red light, talks in Spanish. In the background, Sophie preps a metal bowl of food, then sits and eats it. Joan: "At the moment we're ahead in terms of distance to Cape Town, but that doesn't mean much."View forward before sunrise as the J3 (?) is being unfurled as a staysail. Sophie working the bow in the sunrise. Shot of the masthead. Foredeck work. Blair: The wind's been up and down all night and into the morning. Quite gusty between 18 and 12 knots, so we've been changing sails a little bit... So far so good... We've got about 60 miles to go now to Lisbon. Pretty nice sailing at the moment, but it's going to be tricky at the end, quite light wind. Guys have been telling me some good stories about past races into there." More foredeck work, grinding in the cockpit.Sophie talks about how they had 20 knots of wind, then gybed and had the wind drop faster than they expected, so they changed to the Masthead 0 to keep the boat moving. Shot of Sophie working the bow. Shots of Xabi on the helm and Pablo in the cockpit; Sophie working the bow; Rob flaking a sheet; Blair and Willy grinding.Sophie, Blair, and Xabi in the cockpit as MAPFRE sails fast on starboard gybe; spray. Joan (?) eats below.Rob at the wheel: "The wind's only going to get lighter from here, the next 24 hours, and we're just trying to find the best way through this light transition. Talks about Vestas. Xabi on the helm. Sophie fiddling with the stack on the bow. Then Sophie sitting on the stack while Blair pops up out of the hatch looking at the camera like a gopher.Night shots of crew working in the cockpit, washing machine. Someone (Ñeti?) below repairing something. Xabi talks to Ugo the next morning as MAPFRE sails under A3 and staysail. Xabi (in Spanish): talks about the prevoius night's windy conditions in the Strait of Gibraltar, the competition. Shots of crew in the cockpit, moving the stack. Sophie repairing one of the binnacle compasses.