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Chanto - Week 3: Weed, Whales and Flapjacks



Once Chanto had reduced the total miles to St.Lucia to below 1000 miles the crew onboard began to take 'Bob's 12 o'clock stats' a little more seriously, as the competitive juices started to flow. The spreadsheets that had kept us happy for 2 weeks were no longer enough. We were demanding graphs, histograms and much more detailed statistical analysis to make our final push to St.Lucia as competitive as possible. With the front 3 positions in our class a distant dream our best hope was to hold on to 4th place and try to work our way up through the overall field.

With our earlier tactical nudge further south on day 8 we were now benefiting from stronger winds. A great 2-3 day run saw us average over 7 knots. The only obstacle stopping our progress was weed, and a lot of it!! The hydrovane, our wind powered self steering system, which has been brilliant, didn't like its rudder being smothered in weed, so we resorted back to the auto pilot, which had miraculously decided to start working again. After a further 24 hours of a slightly slow boat speed we decided to furl the sails away and put the boat astern. As we did, a huge green carpet emerged from underneath us. No surprise, our boat speed picked up after this.

On Sunday we had a traditional Sunday roast. The leg of lamb that had been taking up half the freezer space was cooked to perfection accompanied by all of the usual trimmings. The sea conditions weren't helping but with a keen crew the food made a safe passage from plate to mouth.

The following 24 hours produced fantastic sailing conditions, with wind speeds up to 23 knots. This was exactly what Chanto likes and she did us proud by achieving the 7th highest average speed of the 24 hours out of the whole fleet. However, as revealed the following day in 'Bob's 12 o'clock stats' we discovered surprisingly bad news. The boat challenging Chanto for 4th in class was incredibly 1 of the 6 boats that was quicker than us. Taking handicap points into account, Chanto was now 5th in class.

With the crew feeling disappointed and the skipper continually reminding us that we weren't racing, there was a quiet atmosphere onboard. That was until a whale showed up! Intrigued by Chanto's presence, the whale followed us for 20 minutes remaining 50 yards off our beam. Morale was at an all time high!

Day 16 saw the crew on Chanto at their domestic best. With mixed reviews the first time around, Bob was back baking bread in the 35 degree galley, Mum/Nicky made her award winning flapjacks and Tom was Fishing. The bread was a huge success, as were the flapjacks. Chanto was currently in the lead in the fishing competition, with seven Kamikaze flying fish found in mornings versus Tom's three Mahi Mahi and one tuna. With the pressure mounting he needed a big catch, which is exactly what he got. A whopping 20 pound Mahi Mahi!

At the time of writing Chanto currently has 150 miles to St.Lucia. If we average 7 knots, which would be a miracle with the current forecast, we will make the opening night's cocktail party. Our current speed is 7.6 Knots!!

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