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Exody - Day 12 - 21 November - Squally Day



Its not so much the increased winds that come with the regular squalls- since Exody just digs in and goes faster (ie generally no need to reef) - its the light winds and flogging sails either side which disrupt both progress and crew psyche!

They started during the night and carried on during the day inbetween classic trade wind sailing conditions, which have so far blown thankfully from a direction that enables us to use the standard sailplan - ie no poles!

The ARC weather and position report finally came thru and as at 12 noon UTC Friday, 1 day and 22 hours after the start, we have a round 1800 miles out of 2090 miles still to go - with two thirds of the fleet ahead of us. We now also know that our log over reads so our days run average since starting is 151 a bit less than the 160 reported yesterday !. It also showed us in the furthest north position of the fleet sending me back to check my route planning!

Our batteries were challenged overnight last night - ie the fridge stopped- so I went to deploy the towing generator. After carefully flaking out all the line, the last two metres got horribly wrapped in my clipped on lifeline with the impeller knotting it tighter and dragging heavily, so crew were called from their slumbers early hours to 'heave to' the boat while we recovered both the towed impeller and the skippers composure - not quite a near miss!

Masterchef offering today was chicken curry stew by Kathy - a debut in the Exody galley. That's nearly the last of the fresh protein so looks like fishing might be on the cards tomorrow!

As the sun went down and lights came on we saw one other boat within range - no idea which one - but we are assuming that'll probably be the last until we see them all at the other end in a couple of weeks.

Peter (Skipper)



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