Saturday 8 December 2018
Kelpie
Sarah and David Holtby
Sat 8 Dec 2018 17:43
A challenging 24 hours. Initially very little wind and much banging and crashing of the sails and mast gear then at nightfall the wind filled in nicely. Good progress overnight and then around dawn several squalls came up on us, mostly passing to our left or right but one hit us square on just after breakfast. Not to worry, we had learnt our lesson on Thursday and we were well reefed down by the time it hit.
Then becalmed again. Our 24 hour run was 121 miles; not so terrible after all. The leader board looks interesting; two of the cats and the big Discovery 55 we are contending 2nd place with have now arrived at St Vincent so its all about the next 24 hours and our corrected time overall. Andrew has worked out we need to achieve a VMG of 7.5 knots until we finish - that will be a stretch - However, the wind has come round to south of east which puts us on a really fast beam reach - hope is not entirely extinct!
It seems strange to think we are now in our last 24 hours of this rally - our very comfortable little routine is about to be shattered by the euphoria of arrival, seeing Jane and Leigh and opening the bottle of champagne Sarah has hidden in the bilges! Can't wait!
D