ARC Log - Day 14

Global Yacht Racing's P42
Global Yacht Racing
Sun 7 Dec 2008 21:29
14:12.3N 051:26.7W
Author: Ric

Another day slips past, much the same as yesterday - great speeds when we manage to escape the clutches of the big black clouds, but frustratingly slow for an hour or two as the next lot roll over us. Things are improving - cloud base is definitely higher and more scattered this evening than it has been for the last week, and we've got about 16 knots of wind from the north east pushing us towards St. Lucia at an average speed of around 9 knots. We're all hoping that this is the start of an easy and fast last 500 miles.

Our competition is still creeping further ahead of us. It's now just a waiting game to see when they finish, and to see if they give us enough time to catch them on handicap. Regardless, we're all thrilled to be looking at a very strong final position - who'd have thought from a team of novice sailors with little or no race experience. Our crew only met each other, and saw the boat for the first time in Las Palmas!

We had a busy morning from a maintenance point of view. Excellent teamwork from skipper and mate dealing with a heads (toilet) issue. Obviously I spent my time pontificating on what the problem might be, while Paul got his hands dirty. Naturally I took the credit. Then we had a bit of trouble with our last gas bottle - for an hour or so this morning we were faced with the prospect of cold wayfarer meals and no coffee for the remaining few days. Thankfully we solved it, but it was a bit of a reality check!

That's all from me today, but Sandy has a bit to add below.

--

Author: Sandy

I had a mischeivous grin on my face this morning after handing over to the other watch at 7am. We had just spent the last hour or so heading on a collision course with a big squall thart was in between us and beers in St. Lucia, and it looked menacing...

I was quite surprised to find out later that they had skirted round it without getting wet. However, by the end of their four hours they left us in the middle of a rain shower, bobbing up and down and going nowhere fast. So we were quits.

The winds have started to fill in now and the computer says they should be here to stay until the finish. We've seen the weather charts be spectacularly wrong before, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for the last 500 miles or so.

One advantage of the stronger winds is that the boat is uch cooler now during the day. Over the last couple of days it has been verhy unpleasant below decks.

Finally, before I finish, Happy Birthday to Nikki today, and while I remember, Happy Birthday Dad on the 11th.

And to everyone else, enjoy your Monday morning commute!



happy monday morning commute :)