morning we woke in the afternoon to see Spirit of Australia hot on our
tails off our stern (back of the boat), they had caught some wind that
we were desperately lacking! The next race update confirmed what we
already knew. The damn Aussies had gained even more miles on us and
were only 3nm behind! The binoculars were out and we matched them move
for move in a gybing duel. At happy hour Eero (skipper) was more
positive than most, pleased to have them in our sights so that at least
we were subject to the same weather/wind conditions and quietly
confident that we can be the faster boat.
During the night I did the hardest bit of helming so far! We had only 6
knots of extremely variable wind coming from anywhere between 200-250
degrees. It was dark, there were no stars and I couldn't see the horizon
other than the nav lights of the Aussies still breathing down our necks
off our starboard beam (right hand side of the boat). I'm not sure
who/what was struggling more - me to keep our course or the light weight
spinnaker to fly! I always imagined that helming was most difficult in
strong winds and rough seas, waves crashing over the deck, boat heeling
(leaning) over, gunnels (where the hull of the boat joins the deck) in
the water but actually it's so much harder to keep on course when there
is little to no pressure in the sails, the movements of the wheel have
to be so gentle and small and the boat takes much longer to react.
It's 0400hrs and time for bed again. I might have to raid the galley
first though I'm starving! I'm not sure if it's because I deserve to be
hungry from working hard or whether my stomach now just expects a
constant flow of food! It has been a reasonably busy night though. The
wind has improved slightly over this watch, the lightweight kite is
flying happily (hopefully I haven't just jinxed it!). I managed to clock
our 48hr speed record of 7.4knots over the ground just before coming
down below. I can feel a few bruises coming out on my legs as we've
also been busy with a few gybes through the night which has meant
climbing up the downhaul (one of the 3 ropes attached to the outer end
of the spinnaker pole) to set up our tripping line (used if we needed to
drop the spinnaker). Hopefully it's all been worth it though, we lost
the Aussies over the horizon again as the sun came up (at 3 in the
morning!).
So how's the Christmas shopping going? Loving all those Christmas
carols? Can't wait to hear all the goss from the Christmas parties!
There better be some juicy emails waiting for me when we hit land or
I'll be very disappointed! :) We're very much removed from all the
festivities out here, although we did have a special happy hour lead by
our 3 Dutch crew mates for St Nicholas day last week. I think Christmas
this year will be a BBQ on the beach. The poms on board can't wait to
throw some shrimps on the barbe, mate!!
Nite x
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