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Little Pea - Little Pea's ARC 14 Blogoramma - Entering the Final Furlong



15:46.0N 47:23.7W 
 
Now playing: What a difference a day makes - Jamie Cullum
 
Day 14.  Entering the Final Furlong
 
Pretty much throughout the duration of ARC14, we've held the lead in our class and have flirted with the top of the overall rankings. However, due to gear failure and lighter winds over the past few days, we've seen ourselves slide down the overall rankings and our lead at the top of group G dwindle, making it too close to call for the group win. Now with our repairs made and a freshening breeze, LP s backup and running at full pace. As we enter the final chapter of this years' rally, our weather strategy is going to play a critical role in determining the final standings. It's going to be a tight finish as the fleet converges on St. Lucia and it goes without saying that further breakages and hold ups must be avoided!!!
 
We wanted to tell you about Mike's upcoming London Marathon attempt in aid of the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation. He signed up a little "spare of the moment" as part of a bet, and last October discovered with some glee that he'd been lucky enough to get a place for the race in April '15. Needless to say, training has been challenging for the past couple of weeks and with April rapidly approaching Mike needs your help and advise for suggestions on how he can put in some hard graft over the next week. "Building endurance" and "learning to overcome the pain barrier" are key goals Mike's identified to work on whilst he still has the support of the crew. Please remember, the boat is only 12m long, the deck is cluttered with equipment and sails, and we are often sailing at a 45 degree angle. However, Mike has promised to give his best effort in trialling you suggestions and the rest of the crew will monitor progress and report back on success'.  Yesterday Mike started with upper body conditioning when he winched Minkey up the mast to fix our spinnaker halyard problem, which was enormously entertaining for Ben and Jags...  Tomorrow he plans to do some squats.... Once ashore, Minkey has suggested that his 12 year old son, Ollie, should coach Mike after his recent performance in school cross country.
 
In other news, we have tossed virtually all our spoons overboard with dirty washing up water and now only have 3 teaspoons left!  This has sported a new game that might spice up your own meal times? To play, take 3 teaspoons and 1 fork. Then hiding the ends in your hand, offer the handles to your crew / family members. Each in turn draws 1 item of cutlery from the bunch and must then eat their meal using only the implements drawn.  This evening Minkey got the fork which made eating his banana custard quite a challenge.
 
Please keep sending your questions and messages of support to [email protected]
 
 
Daily Stats:
 
Max Boat speed = 10.4 kts
Number of spinnakers used = 1
Maximum Gust =  27 kts
Number of Flying Fish = Many, we've lost count
Number of Whales = nil
Amount of Rain = An awful awful lot today and now looking forward to a wet evening...
Advent calendar highlight = so molten it's difficult to describe as a highlight.  Basically the chocs all now just look like, well, you guessed it!
 
Jags, Minkey, Ben and Mike


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