Its been pretty rough today, an underlying swell in the 4-5m range, with a new breeze direction  lead to some very confused seas.  The home made dog house has started to come into its own now, keeping the boat exceptionally dry down stairs. It has certainly been a topic of conversation. Taking on many names in the leadup to the race. It started life being known  as the greenhouse, but having had pink epoxy added it took on names such as the pink palace, Poodle Parlour. It has allow us to do a couple of things firstly it has brought the liferaft “inside” fitting neatly under the slope in front of the companionway steps. It has also enabled us to provide power and locate the Go Exec (Satellite Communications) in a sensible grabbable  position in the knowledge it is always fully charged for an emergency. One of the things that came out of the Skippers briefing was the challenges of always being contactable in case a neighbouring yacht required assistance, vs the charging requirements of logistics of having the sat phone that can “see” the sky. There was a thought to reduce this demand and make people check/ listen out at a particular time of day.

In the end the rule didn’t change so constant monitoring is required.

Today was a better day not least because I could add a new tally to the dog house, we had a few messages added from family and also a dolphin tally. Today we were able to add the “Whale” tally. It now sits there proudly next to the dolphin tally which currently sits at 11. The Whale was a big first for me ( Charles had gone offwatch about 5 mins before. Breaching two boat lengths  away It was a little fortunate that I was hand steering at the time. Allowing me to change course before we hit it. It was huge with 25 foot of body on display  I couldn’t see the tail. Before a quick flick and it was gone.

We are down to 2 reefs and the Jib out at the moment, which the autopilot is coping well with.

Sent from Mail for indows