Hi
We are getting closer towards the finish and it is hotter on board - in different ways!
Today has been the hottest so far (though we haven't got a thermometer to measure it), and humid. The Trade Wind clouds have been dissipating as we approach land and the wind has started to get lighter. We have been trying to keep our current spinnaker up as long as possible, and save 'Big Bertha'
(our secret weapon) for the last minute.
The competition has also been getting hotter as the boats near the finish line and racers from all over the ocean converge on the one spot. Normally at long range, 5 miles gained or lost does not make a lot of difference, but now just one mile can be a life or death racing situation. We snuck past Acool Turabi today when they had what seemed to be a spinnaker wrap.
Today has been an exceptionally good day from the culinary point of view, we started with a plate of pancakes, moved on to wraps for lunch, jelly for tea, and rounded off with pasta and chorizo for dinner!
The Time Lords moved time again today and turned the clock back another hour to keep in sync with our change of longitude / time zone, this meant that each watch did an extra 30 minutes of watch this afternoon. At the time of change we left the only uninhabited time zone around the world and moved to GMT -3 hours.
Liyann and I worked with Lorraine this afternoon on the foredeck to replace the spinnaker downhaul attachment strop on the starboard spinnaker pole. My job was to cut the right length of rope (with my new knife) and extract the core of the rope to use as a strop. Then I helped to whip (bind and tie very tightly) the new strop onto the pole in a loop. It was a relief from the hot temperature to sit under the flying spinnaker and get cooled by the wind flowing past it.
Now I'm off to bed
Ned