Surfs up!
Another day of full main and good old Mr Medium the Second (medium weight spinnaker) has seen us continue to make sterling progress in a north-easterly direction towards the Irish coast. I think we have had the kite up for almost five days solid now. This is what ocean sailing is all about. Good sail plan, good course, good speed - the stuff that sailing dreams are made of.
As another 24 hours with kite passed, todays it was Leg 8 crew member Kate Broughton’s (8) turn to go aloft for the halyard swap. A task that is made a little more exhilarating with the boat picking up and surfing down waves fully powered up. As I am becoming accustomed to, the halyard swap went quickly and efficiently, and before I knew it Kate landed back on the deck grinning like a very grinny thing! Job well done.
The breeze has built over the course of the day, as has the swell. The combination of both factors has seen us achieving some brilliant speeds, which in turn is causing ear to ear grins on the faces of the on watch. As I am sitting in the nav station typing this I keep hearing the tell tail hiss from the rudders as we pick up speed down the face of another wave.....currently surfing well in to the high teens.
At the time of writing we have covered 299 nautical miles over the ground in the last 24 hours, and I’m hoping that we will break the 300 mile mark overnight. The crew are doing an excellent job of running the boat hard and fast, long may it continue.
The price we have had to pay for the extra wind has been to say goodbye to the sunshine though. The temperature has been noticeably cooler today, but still not low enough to be described as cold. The mid layers might be on now but I am still not back in boots!
IchorCoal OUT!