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Comocean - makes a play for the BP Award



Comocean makes a play for the BP Award

As day two progressed, Comocean has seen every form of relatively peaceful Atlantic weather. At this moment, a true wind speed greater than 6 knots has been hard to come by for about 14 hours. We had some pretty good winds on day one from the East for quite a few hours, then winds transition more southerly. For a moment, the words “wing-on-wing” came out of John Hoffman’s mouth. Not good for a vessel with only human whisker poles…and Norm refused the assignment. We also had a few hours of ENE breezes that have allowed for some good sailing. In the Atlantic Cup, there is a challenge for best boat performance. This allows for corrected times for each boat and deductions for hours spent motoring.
So, the teams’ conundrum: Do we go for bragging rights and whisk along at 2.9 knots in 6 Knot breezes that are all over the place, or try to lay on the Rum Line to shorten the trip and use the engine whenever below 5 knots? Do we have enough fuel to complete the race? Hard questions to answer! A need for consensus helps as both choices have some misery in the form of rocking along going nowhere, or beating along with 77 decibels of engine noise for hours on end, and risking a fuel shortage. Although not a long meeting, as none of us are ever together at one time except for dinner thanks to the need for sleep and maintaining a watch, we seem to have gone with “just getting there”, and meeting the wives in Bermuda sometime close to when they arrive the 8th…so, motor on. As a team, we confirmed our desire to lead in the famed award for most hours motored and diesel used…the coveted “BP Credit Card Miles Award”. I hear diesels a bit expensive in Bermuda, but the World Cruising Club has arranged for us to get it duty free.
Last night was beautiful. Flat seas surrounded us with a gentile motion. A full moon and partially cloudy skies added plenty of light to sail by and great reflections off the water. Moderate temperatures made sleeping for those off watch easier, despite the drone of the engine. We were once again surrounded by fellow vessels Trillium and Surprise, as well as a 177 foot sailboat also headed to Bermuda at about our speed. Dinner, compliments of our vessel chef Stouffer was excellent and only 230 calories. Although accompanied by the last bottle of red wine, there still seemed to be room for snickers. We note that Joel is nearly fully recovered as his appetite seems to have significantly improved.

Watching for the westerly’s that or team on shore tactician Seth Hynes has confirmed from his GRIB analysis, we have filled the sails the best we could during this motor sailing period and wait to use the initial NNW breeze and following West breeze to bring us back on course.



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