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Bamarandi - Sunday 22nd November - Change of Tictacs



Position 16.37.685N 036.32.231W

If you have been following our track you will have seen it change overnight from tacing back and forth to straight line. We dropped our mainsail and tied the genoa back wide open so we could get as much downwind into it as we could. We also needed to recharge our 900-amp hour battery bank so we also ran one engine at low revs and managed to keep to a fairly straight track. We went more slowly but without the criss cross additional miles made good progress towards our goal.

The effect of going in a straight line overnight can be seen from the greater miles towards St Lucia we clocked up and the smaller differential with our total miles covered. There is something slightly odd with the data however so an updated table will be posted tomorrow.

The night passed smoothly and uneventfully with Aurora another yacht from the fleet just in front of us and another AIS blip showing “Unknown Vessel” much of the night - both on our starboard side.

We hailed Aurora on the radio to chat with them and see how they were doing. They are flying their spinnaker but are worried as the winds today have picked up quite a bit and have been blowing at over 20kts some of the time. They said they prefer around 17kts. We are going a bit faster than them at the moment flying both our sails so we will hopefully get a look at them later on as we cross overt the straight line they are following on our tac.

We exchanged fishing stories and they like us have been good at losing lures so far and not catching anything. There are battalions of flying fish around and as if on a signal large number of them fly out of the water in formation and set off across the surface. Some bounce several times like a skimming stone and carry on for huge distances while novices crash headfirst in the waves sometimes with a loud Plop. They are light blue and easy to see skimming over the waves.

Aurora had however caught one fish – but rather unconventionally – and not discovered for some little time – a flying fish flew in through one of their portholes into a cabin and unhelpfully thrashed about in there for a while before being discovered and put back into the water. We are told the smell lingers and the mess is slimy to clear up!

“Unknown Vessel” from the night turned out to be Huamana an 18m yacht and they too are now getting closer to us on our starboard side so maybe we will see them later too. They are doing about 5.6kts we are doing nearly 9kts, they are now 1.1nm away. 

The weather is good and it’s another warm sunny day. No dolphin or whale visitors today - yet. Everyone on board is feeling a bit better after our minor stomach bug upset, we hope the rest of the ARC+ fleet is too. 


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