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Little Pea - Little Pea's Arc 14 Blogoramma - It's all getting a bit smelly...



14:33.9N 57:45.3W
 
Now playing: I drove all night - Roy Orbison
 
As we enter our final 24hrs at sea, things are starting to pong a little onboard as we have all run out of deodorant. As temperatures hit the high 30s on a daily basis, not even numerous salt water washes a day are keeping the stench away.  Our Little Pea deck shirts are infused with sweat, salt, diesel and bilge.  We are a shabby sight.  We have sailed Little Pea hard for almost 3 weeks now.  We've battled to hold onto our group lead position and, only now, as we make our final approach towards land, can we think about scrubbing up and slipping on or Little Pea polo shirts before walking into the sailor bar in Rodney Bay with our heads held high...
 
Last night was probably one of our most intense nights as we battled with squally sailing conditions while flying our spinnaker.  We doubled up on watches and drove Little Pea as hard as we could, out striping many larger yachts around us,  including a 62 ft catamaran.  As dawn broke we learnt that we'd extended our lead - not by much, but it was enough.  However the night was not without incident shortly after Mike and Minkey were sent to their bunks (and after a sweepstake of how long it'll be before they were called back on deck), the guy (a critical rope that helps control the Melinda the spinnaker) snapped. ALL HANDS ON DECK! We scuttled around, recovered the damaged rope and had Little Pea running at full pace again. The night wasn't kind. The sea state was lumpy and the breeze in consistent. By the morning we were all knackered.
 
We've spent the day with Melinda up gently hauling us closer towards land.  Its been blisteringly hot and we've tried to cat nap on and off all day to catch up on sleep before what may be our final, and potentially another intense night at sea. 
 
Daily Stats:
 
Max Boat speed = 9.99 kts So close!
Number of spinnakers used = 1, Melinda again
Maximum Gust =  23 kts
Number of Flying Fish = Hundreds, but they seem to be getting less suicidal now
Number of other yachts = 3
Amount of Rain = nil, but we'd quite like some...
Advent calendar highlight = No sign of Wally.
 
Jags, Minkey, Ben and Mike
 
 


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