9:13.1S 115:58.5W
1700 miles covered
Yesterday evening we passed the half-way mark. We now have "only" 1360 miles to go to reach our first port of call in Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. The milestone was celebrated with Pina Coladas, white chilli and chocolate cake and cream.
In the afternoon Andrea had spotted that the ring at the tack of the asymmetric spinnaker was chafing through (remember that the ring has been loaded for a few days by the equivalent of being towed by a small car) and so we took down the asymmetric for repair and put up the Parasailor in its place. Taking a spinnaker down in 22 knot winds is always quite challenging and unfortunately this time it reinflated before it was fully snuffed. Estella did not let go fast enough and got a rope burn on her fingers (the danger of fingerless gloves). Her fingers were quickly iced and gelled and they are much better today.
The Parasailor did its job overnight but it is slightly slower than the asymmetric and, while we are only casually racing, the yacht 12Moons is only 20 miles ahead of us and we will be third past the post if we can overtake them. So this morning I was sewing tape through the ring on the sail to shore up the tear. We did not have the right width of tape and so we sacrificed a spare safety line to use for the repair. Sewing the tape into position was a real pain because it had to be attached to fourteen layers of finely woven nylon, which cost several needles and blisters.
Now the asymmetric is back up and flying. Here is the new yellow tape in position. It is holding up well so far.
3CC