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Cleone - Leg 16 Day 3 - Sail and Sail



What a cracking day's sailing.
 
It's not often that Cleone has topped a hundred and seventy miles in a day, but we achieved 176 miles in the last twenty four hours.  The Skipper's not checked yet, but this could be a record.  To be fair, there has been a west-going current to help us, but even so it has been great sailing.  Not only fast, we have also had sunshine, light clouds and a comfortable swell.   And to top it all, we had a Norfy feast in the evening; it was a starlit affair (the moon is rising late at the moment for those interested) in the cockpit, but no candles or orchestra.  During the day, we had full Main and Genoa, with the Mizzen Staysail doing its lusty bit, and mindful of the previous day's set-back, we took the Mizzen Staysail down just after sunset.  Interestingly (as so often happens) Cleone continued to sail just as fast, but was much more comfortable, and lighter on the helm to boot.  And we stayed that way until morning, when we hoisted the Mizzen to give us a bit of extra speed.  Twas in the Skipper's watch, and I think he was stung by Alex's achievement of 25 miles run in 3 hours! (but it did work; the skipper's watch showed a run of 25 miles too - Ed).
 
Apart from the exhilaration of a great day's sailing, there is little to report.  Our fisherman (Alex) had a blank day, losing another small tuna, but he is confident (and this is important) that today will be The Big One.  We'll see.  He's convinced that colour is the all important quality for the lure - he's tried Orange, Blue and Green with equal lack of success!  Norfy has almost recovered from his candle-burning-at-both-ends-and-in-the-middle visit to Bali, and was up and about yesterday for 20 minutes more than he was actually on watch.  The Skipper has done a couple of little jobs.  He has tidied up the arrangement for the Mizzen Boom gybe preventer and has plans for sorting some of the awful mess of ropes that inevitably accumulate in the cockpit.  But there is just one fly in this pot of golden ointment; the Skipper is on chef's duties this evening.  Gloom.
 
All well with us, and best wishes to everyone,

James, Norfy (Chris) and Alex

Yacht Cleone
09o56'S 109o44'E



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