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Saoirse - Saoirse Diaries - 8 - Flying High with the Butterfly



We have a Blue Water Runner from Elvstrom, designed specifically with Trade Wind sailing in mind. We first saw her at the boat show in Düsseldorf in 2017 and fell instantly in love. The sight of this magnificent sail unfurling like two majestic eagle wings made us go weak at the knees. We knew we HAD to have one. So we saved our pennys and finally a couple of months before the start of the ARC she was delivered to us on Lanzarote. Oh man we could not wait to fly her. We expected to give her a first spin on the sail over to Las Palmas but as luck would have it we had South Westerlies for the passage. Damn it!! So the first outing will be crossing the start line to begin the Atlantic crossing. That’s pretty cool too. Nope ‘fraid not guys, with 28 knots of wind there was no way she was making her debut. We were itching to get her out though and when the forecast came in on day 2 predicting more of the same weather our hearts sank.

In the wee small hours of Tuesday morning however the wind seemed to drop unexpectedly. We monitored it, yes, a definite easing and by day break it had been a steady 20 knots for a few hours. Come on guys, this is our window, let’s break out the Butterfly!!!! Out she came and oh my, what a beauty, a glorious sight and boy did she deliver. We were able to hold the rhumb line course dead down wind and we were absolutely flying!! Spirits were soaring.

It could have been one of our best days on the water but for the fact that our little girl was still not feeling herself and you know when your kids are sick you never feel 100% yourself. You suffer with them. The chicken soup had helped but she was very despondent Tuesday morning and I was worried she was not drinking enough. Another tummy settling broth was called for and as the smell wafted up on deck I heard her say, oh that smells delicious I’m starving. If the Butterfly had made our spirits soar that made my soul sing. She wolfed down a big bowl and by the evening was making up songs with the word poops in them and laughing her head off. Yes folks, our girl is back, now let’s see how we are doing.

We had been in the doldrums after our first night of sailing in the wrong direction, ranking 75th out of 100, by noon on Wednesday when the positions came in, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes we had burned through the fleet with our Butterfly and were sitting in 29th position. Yeah baby now we are sucking diesel!!

Saoirse crew out until the next time.

Stay tuned

By Aisling Fenix

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