Champagne Sailing
Purple Mist
Skipper: Kate Cope
Fri 7 Jun 2019 11:38
It’s champagne sailing aboard Purple Mist this morning. Wind has dropped to a very pleasant 12kts and although it will go West and SW it’s still sticking pretty NW for now. We are back up to full main and the J2 and she is creaming along nicely.
Sun is shining and waves are calm and sparkling , I have to keep pinching myself I’m not just on trip to Poole. I keep looking round to spot Old Harry Rocks, then remember I’m instead miles away from land.
So after the genuinely surprising revelation that we are doing ok we are now thinking about sailing fast and tactics for the end.
Both Bobby and I are actively trimming the sails now to squeeze every 10th of a knot out of the boat. it was a really nice break to sit inside last night and let George the auto pilot do the hard word, my only contribution was to go and stand on the high side near the stove during the gusts ...and help myself to some rather nice M&S chocolate mini rolls. Today though we are more activly sailing.
The legendary Azores high pressure is descending on the Azores and so it will be light winds. Which way to go round the island ? Where will the wind be? The Island has 2 massive volcanos that create big shadows downwind of them which we must avoid.
We have 3 secret weapons aboard to help us
1) the fantastic BGAN thanks again to Mailasail for the loan is able to download really detailed weather files that are really too big to get via Sat Phone.
2) Deb managed to acquire for me some detailed French analysis of the wind shadows and acceleration zones with different wind directions. This info is clearly the sort of secret weapon that the French have up their sleeves. I’m not sure what Deb had to trade at the Sunfast World Cup for this info but we have it printed out and not even the fact it’s all in French will stop us putting it to good use
3) A guy called Jim used to live next door to me who’s job is a polar explorer. He told me on expeditions each member of the team brings one treat to keep up the spirits when they are snowbound and freezing. We are far from snowbound and freezing but just in case the going gets tough I have some of my sister-in-laws legendary Christmas cake stashed safely...and I even know where it is...with the muesli bars that I found yesterday hiding in the heads...luckily not been sat on.
Finally Bobby thinks we might we stalked by a submarine as the depth keeps going to 30m....or maybe it’s a whale?
