"It was an awesome leg. There was a variety of conditions but it was nice to get out on my longest ever leg at sea," he said.
"Hours are the longest it's been apart. Quite often we've been around a mile apart. It was really challenging having other boats close in behind but also when they're a bit behind you know they will be pushing back.
"The key point was off the Brazilian coast. Dongfeng had been leading for most of the leg at that point but we caught up there and we basically gybed south first and got the breeze a little bit earlier than they did.
"It was a big call from our navigator to gybe but it paid off."
They finished in 19 days, 1 hour, 10 minutes and 33 seconds, just under three hours quicker than rivals Dongfeng Race Team.
Mapfre had trailed Dongfeng for most of the long leg, but last weekend, after crossing the Doldrums, they made the winning move, a quick gybe to the southwest that Dongfeng didn't cover. Mapfre quickly gained a tactical advantage they never relinquished.
Tuke said the win rates pretty highly but there's still a lot more work to do.
"It's certainly right up there in terms of what I've achieved. The Volvo is such a rewarding experience," he said.
"The travels have been amazing. To go from Lisbon in Europe three weeks ago to the bottom of South Africa in Cape Town would be really cool even if you weren't in the Volvo race.
"But to do it against the best sailors in the world is a good feeling. It's just the start, we are here to win. It's essentially one win in an 11 race series."
Tuke and his teammates now have a couple of weeks to recover from the arduous leg before starting the third leg which takes them from Cape Town to Melbourne.
