By mid day the wind finally started to fill in from where it should be, and we are sailing again. After a long time struggling to keep the boat moving we are currently making a good 8 knots in the right direction. It was at about mid day the wind really started to provide enough pressure to keep the sails full and we changed to the A2. With the breeze as it was we were having to change the course as needed to keep the boat moving along and the speed up.
Now the sun has set and we have been in a stable10 to 15 knots for several hours. The mizzen kite is set and also the spin staysail along with the main,and A2. The top speed so far is 8.7knots and I am happy to say I was on the helm. It looks like the breeze should hold for the moment but potentially gets lighter in the early hours of the morning. We have made a conscious decision as a team to not chase the wind inshore overnight as it will eventually die off and we will not be able to get back into the gradient offshore. This essentially means we are just staying a little to the right of rhumb line and keeping Dorade moving fast.
We obviously lost some ground to the faster lighter boats in the light stuff and they will always continue to get away from us but on corrected time we still have plenty of opportunity to reel them in. It’s a long race still and anything can happens but at the moment it is looking good for the rich to get richer and we are in second so it’s still all to play for.
I’ve just been up for a rig check and enjoyed a spectacular view of the boat sailing with everything up and all was well. I think Olin would be proud.
For now that’s it and we are hoping for another quiet night
Ben
Unfortunately Kevin’s audio isn’t as good a quality as I would have liked but you can still hear what he has to say!
Race Status
http://yb.tl/newport2cabo2013