Bolero - ARC + Day 5

Day 5

Following a VHF call with North Star, the skipper decided that we would fly the spinnaker. Changing the sail plan took a while as we have additional lines in situ to hold the spinnaker boom firmly in place and preventers to stop the boom swinging across the boat. The whole operation took a while but the effort was worth it as the spinnaker gave us an additional knot of boat speed. We pulled slowly away from North Star, which had been our guiding light over the previous 48 hours on our journey south.

After a late lunch, it was soon time to start preparing our evening meal. Tomato curry, cabbage and bean foogath. Yummy.

We will certainly not go hungry on this boat!

The latest weather forecast indicated that the wind would continue to ease overnight and the seas moderate so we flew the spinnaker. Gwyn and Ian drew the short straw and stood the first moonless watch. Sailing in the dark with the spinnaker was certainly challenging. We had dry decks all night which was, we think, a result of the cloud cover.

The cloud certainly gave a beautiful sunset and sunrise this morning, the air temperature was appreciably warmer and we sailed in shorts and a fleece rather than the oilskin trousers needed in the damp conditions of the day before. Our last night on this leg ended with a delicious cooked breakfast. The morning walk around the deck revealed not only one dead flying fish, but also a locust hiding on the cruising chute bag.

The wind eased as the morning progressed, we caught and passed Attitude which was sailing under her twin headsails.

The 12:00 positions were downloaded, we continue to show that we are slowly moving up the fleet.

The drum roll 13:00 distance to the finish showed that we have 43.4 miles to go to the finish. We will see the beauty of the islands in the setting sun.

Fair Winds
Nick, Maz, Ian and Gwyn