Day 14. 15 55.37 N. 49 27.41W.
Alcedo
David Batten
Sun 8 Dec 2013 21:13
We are now on an express train going westward. We have the twin genoas set and have put the mainsail away. Currently doing 9 or 10 kts with 20 kts of wind over the stern. We have now got 676 miles to go to our way point. We are hoping for a 200 mile day. Despite a few tries we have never quite achieved this as something always interferes.
The forecast is for the wind to continue or even strengthen a bit so fingers crossed we might achieve this.
There is tremendous strain on all the gear at this speed and I have moved the genoa leads to a snatch block tied to the main mooring cleats. The force is such that even they move a little but a lot less than the runner plates I was using before.
We have two genoas set on the head foil so organised that we can roll them both up together and thus shorten sail quite quickly. It was a complex operation to get the second one up and I am not quite sure how we will get it down.
We have just decided that we will shorten sail a little by rolling in a bit before we all go to bed and leave one poor crew person on deck alone.
Goodnight and best wishes from all on Alcedo
Sent from my iPad