Those following us on the Race Viewer will probably be wondering what the hell happened after we dropped from third place to last within the space of 12 hours. Well, we initially gained and then lost a couple of places in the frustration of last night as we crossed back and forth with the rest of the fleet in an exhausting game of chase-the-breeze.
This morning as the tide turned we found ourselves more or less in the middle of the pack as the tide turned...it would just be a matter of hours before we finally see the back of this loathsome (but pretty) place. However, fate had other ideas and a combination of a sudden drop in breeze and poor judgement on my part saw us slip into an eddy behind an island in the Firth.
All of a sudden, we went from doing 14 knots in favourable tide to 3 knots backwards as we were sucked by the eddy back towards the island. We fought this current for hours, just managing to hold station for a while before picking up a slight breeze and edging ourselves out of it. By this time, the damage was done as the other boats behind had seen our troubles and promptly tacked away and headed around the outside to avoid the same fate.
Needless to say this incident has put a serious dent in our race and it looks like we will be playing catch-up for a while now. Still, always one to focus on the positives, yesterday was stunning and John O’ Groats looked splendid, although we had much too long to admire it unfortunately...
So this mornings' tale is a familiar one as we do battle with GREAT Britain, tacking our way down the coast. We have just been hit by a rather large lightning storm which called for an exciting sail change, but we are now back up to full speed and for once a decent course towards our destination, where we hope to arrive in a couple of days.
A disappointed but still happy Garmin, signing off.
Ash