05 Jul Day Three Update From The Transatlantic Race
Hellllo breeze. Well, we wanted it and we’ve got it. The last couple hours or so have been exactly what we expected, exactly what we needed, and exactly what we anticipate over the next 20 hours: 20-25 knots from the southwest, five foot seas, and one heck of a good time. We’re currently averaging about 21 knots of boatspeed under full main, genoa staysail, and the A5, and we’re moving forward on the fleet to the North. It’s wet and wild on deck, and even more so down below. My makeshift station has been obliterated by water and invaded by people moving aft, all trying to find one last lot of dry floor. I’ve put my flag in the ground and the battle is on.
As violent is life is down here: left-right, up-down, forwards-stop, bang!!, splooosh, ERRRR-ER-ERRRR-ERRR-ER, it is still relatively comfortable. We’re all warm, we’re all well fed, and we’re all anxious to get back on deck to have some more fun while the going is good. And as fun as it is, it’s still very competitive; people are pushing hard and we are learning our limits, sailing within our abilities. There’s a lot of racetrack left and some pretty significant separation between us and the rest of the fleet; anything can happen and we’re just making sure we’re getting everything out of the Vanquish when we can. She seems to be pretty happy right now! Just felt the bow go down and saw 24 kts on the speedo…
It’s back to the grind for now, I’m going to run up on deck for a few last photos before we lose our light. Then it’s in for a long night of heavy-air sailing in the dark. Fortunately we have a fresh batch of piping hot tuna casserole to power us through.