Day 5 started really well. Patrick treated us to scrambled eggs for breakfast, the night watches had passed without event and day broke with some downwind spinnaker sailing to enjoy. The winds took their mid day drift downwards and once they had settled at the 15 to 17 knot range, the foredeck crew went into action and up she went! Lunch with Albert (the auto helm) helming saw us effortlessly touching 10 knots of boat speed in 15 knots of breeze - the sleigh ride to St Lucia had begun. So often when you think you have got life sorted and I have to say Satori felt pretty good and then rip ....She had surfed off the back of a wave, decelerated and then filled again with a catch and bang, we had a three or four part spinnaker. Not what the doctor ordered. I am pleased to say that Alan had a chance to enjoy his hardwork of the previous day and logged just shy of 12 knots before we lost it. Still nobody was hurt, and it is only a bit of cloth after all. We have retreived the shredded remnants and have hoisted the stay sail and goose winged the headsail. As I write, we are making 6 knots in 12 knots of breeze and playing very loud music. Alan is downcast, Matthew is on to Mike to check what route implications it has and the rest of us our burying ourselves in books and rest - hardly a hardship posting. If we assume we could have carried the chute for 6 hours a day at a benefit of 2 knots over the remaining course of the "rally", then the loss of the sail has probably cost us 2 to 3 days. Looks like Wednesday week is more likely than Sunday or Monday. If any of you have any wind god connections, start asking for 20 to 25 from the NE moving to the East over the next 7 days!
Andrew Haining