Hi All,
Well yesterday saw us break into the tropics, did not warm up that quickly as we spent most the day being rained on! One particularly biblical rain squall afforded the opportunity for showering on deck, John was a little
slow to catch on to this plan and by the time he was lathered up the rain stopped, being a kind hearted crew he was given a bottle of water to get the soap out of his eyes!
We have spent the last 4 days reaching under our little jib, beginning to wish we had rated with something a little bigger! But on the plus side sail changes have been redundant, allowing us to relax a little. Boat speed has been surprisingly ok considering being a little under done.
Food still fantastic, and I am also pleased to report that the broken kite pole is now looking a bit fitter with a fairly robust internal and external splint, just need some wind aft of the beam to try it!
We are keeping close eyes on our mates on Q8, and have been holding them on the water which is pleasing, Zen are making steady progress extending on us most scheds, but they do owe a little on Hcap, I expect they have been putting their shiny new code zero to good use.
We have flirted a bit with our new A7, it is a bit of a beast and every time it collapses and refills it sounds like cannon fire, bit stressful given our modified rig, at least we are on port tack!
Seems that we will have to keep pushing SW to get around the light winds from the low that has pushed off N, those ahead are slowing, but it seems by staying wide we may be able to carry pressure a little further. Looking
ahead it is unclear what to expect but hopefully after a few days we will see some of those mythical trade winds to propel us the rest of the way to the bar. Perhaps some light winds will give us a chance to close down on Q8
a bit...
Vaquita having had an awesome first half, seem to have been trapped in the wake of the low, it was a punchy call to try to go N, and I was kinda hoping they could pull it off and have a stab at a new record, which would have
been an incredible feat for a 40' boat, now looks like that it is going to be an interesting handicap battle to the end with them (again!). They certainly proved to be the class in the fleet in the heavy downwind, demonstrating the experience onboard.
It is now about 25deg plus on deck and nearer 35 down below... Humidity is over 100% as it is actually raining condensation! Should have brought some tropical plants, they would do rather well! We have refitted the solar panels, which are keeping up with our power demands in the day, night time is not so good, but this should half the engine charging requirements. Guess it is only going to get hotter as my routing has us down to 16 degs before long! At least if the wind disappears we can go for a refreshing swim!
Boatspeed dropping in to the 7's so time to break out the angry little kite again...
Halfway party tonight, we will hopefully be leading overall IRC by then?! We will also raise a glass to Greg, who decided last min not to join us, but generously left us with some champagne, keep me posted on any plans for next year Greg, and happy birthday tomorrow!
All for now
Cheers
Ross