Day 15: We’ve got wind …and in a good way

Purple Mist
Skipper: Kate Cope
Sun 22 Jan 2023 20:37

17:02.754N 47:21.490W

Day 15: We’ve got wind …and in a good way

Yesterday was totally different with a stable wind of 10-12kts. We caught up on sleep after the shenanigans of last night. We have started to get into a little routine of a mocktail about 6pm - there is no alcohol aboard but we did pick up some nice pineapple, mango or tomato juice to choose from . We chew over the day and reflect on observations like how blue the sea has become these past few days and how simply lovely it is being in the middle of nowhere with no deadlines to meet.

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Early evening as the boat was so stable and the speed was good we treated ourselves to a movie! Claire came round to my cabin with her iPad and we enjoyed a mango juice whilst watching Shaun the Sheep FArmageddon. Sometime it’s good to loose yourself in another activity as a break.

Overnight the good news was the wind finally filled in to 14-17kts and our boat speed was much more respectable. It was pitch black with no moon again but we did have the stars back, the sea remained fairly flat with no squalls. We kept the S3 spinnaker flying and we were really “sending it” as the racers would say in near perfect downwind conditions.

In contrast today has been pretty tough.. The reality is we have another week of this trip and because of the Spinnaker wrap and then the wind holes we are way behind the pace off the back of the fleet. Mentally is tough to stay motivated to keep racing and pushing the boat along. We are staring at endless ocean with nothing out there, not even any ships or rowers on AIS to investigate. The nights are the toughest with 12hrs of pitch black at the moment. neither of us are very perky after the nighttime alarms.

At least there is no more wind holes. the wind has been even stronger for most of the day more like 18-20kts hurrah !! So we tried the poled out J2 jib.

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