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Annabella - Log 16 - Wednesday 11th December



Position : 14 00.64N
49 09.72W

Distance to St Lucia: 685NM
Distance since Log 15: 190NM


Another good 24 hours under full main sail and genoa heading slightly north of destination. Wind is now from the east (trade winds) which enables us to fly the twin head sails. We have just spent about 90 minutes changing and stowing main and genoa. Cracking along now at 8 knots + in 12-13 knots of wind. The change over probably cost us about 12 miles, but we had made overnight gains on the other boats in our class so still optimistic that we can catch one or two ahead. Motion of the boat has changed with the new sail configuration with more pitching from side to side. Lots of squalls about which show up really clearly on the radar. Very humid with lots of cloud and big swell.

The unidentified boat yesterday turned out to Hada, a Hanse 50, under american ownership. It overhauled us over a period of about 5 hours and went ahead doing about a knot and a half faster than us with a cruising chute. They are in the racing division, obviously not doing very well. The racing heads among our crew were mooting a spinny hoist to keep ahead and the following is an extract from our skipper's log entery which describes the event;

"Efforts to launch the spinny thwarted by winds gusting to 18 knots. Foredeck crew (TL & CO'M) very disappointed! Pug relieved. Craig and SV smiling. Passed by Hada, good photos".

We did catch up again this morning and then gifted the 12 miles during the sail change. No doubt about which division we are in though.

Conor cooked a delicious chicken dish last night and chilli con carni may be on the menu this evening (If I can maintain balance while preparing). Stephen announced that the fridge had finally given up the ghost this morning. Fortunately, we quickly discovered that it had been accidentally turned off (always check if it's plugged in first).

It's great to see the days falling away with the decent boat speeds. If the wind holds we are hoping to be in on Sunday during day light. We have a book going on the exact time.

That's it for the moment.

Slan


Peter (pug), Stephen (4.7), Conor, Craig and Terry (still blogger)










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