During the last few days we had an interesting
fight with our competitors; the Spirit, Bepa and Adrienne. We learned to know
their crew better during our stay is Las Palmas and Mindelo. All pleasently
disturbed sailors that act as if they starting a cruise, but when they are at
sea they pushed their yachts so hard that damage is unevitable. On the Nix
we only lost the spi boom rail on the mast, the #2 genoa, a
spinnaker and the main sail is falling apart due to the big forces that we
apply during reefing. Since the Adrienne was only 3 miles ahead, we put on the
carbon blade so the speed cannot fall under 9 knots. Result after 24 hours: a 9
mile lead. Thank you Dick, Alexey and Ove for the fierce competition we got on
our "cruise".
Our simplified watch scheme paid off pretty good
and we are heading for the last night without thinking about the
competition.......
Nix crew