Bulli men's surf boat crew bounced back from a day-one equipment failure to take out stage two of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon yesterday.

Bulli won the 19km stage from Moruya to Tuross Head in convincing fashion for a share of the overall lead with defending champions Moruya Vikings, who won a difficult first stage on Sunday.

Sweep Paul Jones was happy with the way his crew bounced back from the tough conditions and equipment failure to take victory in yesterday's stage.

"We had a very good day today in much better conditions," Jones said.

"We were having a good day yesterday (Sunday) but the buckle broke on the tube that pumps the water out.

"We were in front by 150 metres but (Moruya) Vikings kept pegging away because we had to keep stopping to manually get the hose out and pump the water out.

"We didn't have that problem today - we fixed all our gear up and it showed in our row.

"We did it pretty easy.

"There's still five days to go anything can happen but we're pretty confident after today (Monday) and yesterday."

Yesterday's light nor-easter was a welcome change from day one which saw some of the worst conditions in the event's 40-year history and caused organisers to turn the fleet back to Corrigans Beach on day one.

"It was probably the toughest conditions I've rowed in in terms of the George Bass," Jones said.

"There was a 25-30 knot southerly and we were just punching straight into it.

"The organisers did the right thing by going halfway and then turning us around to go with the swell back into Batemans Bay.

"It turned out OK but still a very very hard race."

Wollongong City sweep Rod Latham was also happy with the way his crew performed on day two, rowing themselves into fourth spot.

"Today we finished fourth and I'm pretty happy with that especially after the trying conditions and yesterday (Sunday)," Latham said.

"It was certainly a tough day and having to back up today with shorter leg, the guys went pretty well.

"We had a couple of changes that didn't go really well this morning but other than that we rowed really well to stay where we were."

Latham expects the tough conditions to continue when the race resumes today.

"I haven't heard exactly what's going on but the conditions are changing again," he said.

"Tomorrow I'll start again and just see how we go."