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Scarlet Oyster - 10 Dec - Running down the clock! Day 16 on Scarlet



We have managed not to break anything since yesterday’s blog!  That should qualify for a prize of some sort!

 

Weather is pretty good now, strong trades propeller by a high pressure N of us over the NW Atlantic, the boats back to the E will have less wind to play with.  We got on the runner for a few hours yesterday, pretty full on with upto 30knots at times, managed a couple of 40mile 4hr runs, this has helped make our lead look more secure, with some dodgy cloud around and forecast, we decided to run on white sails overnight, as it happened there were no big squalls, but the wind held in at 25kn, so the poled out jib was just fine.

 

Having had an expensive month with the boat, damage limitation is the name of the game!  I have a rather elaborate spreadsheet that I use to analyse the position updates, it works out av speeds required by each boat to win class, it seems that we no longer need to push, but just keep 8kn averages, as the runway to St Lucia runs out there is less opportunity for anyone to catch us.  Arrabbiata now needs to average over 10kn VMG to keep in contention, every update they do less than that their target rises.

 

For the rest of the race we just need to sail smart, kite up if wind under 25kn, but drop before 30 and keep sensible averages.  It is almost like a football team running the clock down when ahead near the end of a game, boring but the sensible way to go for us.  We lost any realistic chance of beating Caro a few nights ago in a wind hole, they have won their class by quite a margin, a job well done!  The x50 Sveva have been flying for last few days, averaging nearly 10knots, very good effort there too, they look set to be 2nd in Class A, and it could  be quite a close finish on handicap between them and us!

 

The wind is beginning to shift from NE to ENE/E, this will help Arrabbiata a little as it gives them an angle on port gybe to the finish.  We are trucking along under Big Red, our now largest kite, our course is now slightly to the North of St Lucia, I expect as the wind increases tonight we will drop the kite and pole the jib, at some point we will gybe, and then it will be a straight line to the top of St Lucia.  Eta is before closing time tomorrow night, hopefully!

 

All for now, will try and get a blog done and may be a photo tomorrow

 

Cheers

 

Ross



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