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Scarlet Oyster - The Blind leading the?... Scarlet Day 8 Blog



Yesterday evening saw champagne sailing conditions, and even a visit from a pod of dolphins. Halfway was toasted with champagne courtesy of Ross' girlfriend Sarah. 

We continued our pursuit of our worthy rivals, Captain Blind, into a star-studded night. Their preferred course to St Lucia, very much mirrors what our own routing is saying, it would seem foolish to split from our strongest rival given that we currently have the upper hand, so we continue to keep them in our sights.

After the moon set the darkness gradually engulfed us, and by 0500 a huge black cloud was right above us. Winds from all corners of the compass gusted up to 30 knots. 

Our trusty co-skipper Mark jumped out of bed and onto the helm. As a well-oiled machine, we changed from our biggest recently patched up light weight spinnaker to our heavier scarlet running kite. Great work from Joe our experienced bow man for getting the new spinnaker rigged without a hitch in pitch darkness and heavy rain!

Over several crossings Ross has developed systems and techniques that enable safer more reliable handling of spinnakers in such trying conditions. One such device is the anti spinnaker wrap net a 'sail' made from webbing that is hoisted in place of a jib and stops the spinnaker from being able to wrap around the forestay.

So, as dawn breaks today, we are locked in one of the longest trans-Atlantic match races in Anglo-French relations.

So far Ross, our master and commander, has played a blinder, and continues to direct us with his usual panache. In his three previous Arcs, on Scarlet, he has never had a rival who has pushed him so hard, ironically the closest match previously was another Grand Soleil 43! He has been motivating us with a combination of steely eyed determination and extra baby wipes.

Vive la difference!

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