Looking down the course, the boats that have already finished (which started 3days after us!) slowed down near the end. That helped B fleets overall standings for now, but should get re-corrected later. The forecast is for lighter breeze as well, and we are making course adjustments now to partially compensate - but the arrival time is slipping to the right notably. You can probably see on our Yellow Brick as we sail generally VMG to the changing wind conditions. We warned you earlier about the incessant calculation of ETA that marks the final stages of any race. 282nm (322mi)to go. In a car, it would be about 5.5-6 hours, in a boat, between 35 and 50hrs.
A strange reference thing happens in the ocean; "light" wind is anything under 20kts. In the bay or near shore sailing, a 13kt day is 'pretty good', a 15kt day is excellent and over 20 is "exciting windy". Here, because of a combination of the large wave state and the desire to have the boat at max speed all the time, anything less than 20 and the boat feels like it is "wallowing" along at 7.5 kts - a great clip anywhere else.
Last night was clear and warmish, no real squalls and plenty of stars and a moon to shine upon and guide us. We sailed along a silvery road toward the glowing orb until it set into a distant bed of clouds- and revealed an even more brilliant starry night. The calmness allowed us to use a two person watch and let the standby person sleep. That caught the crew up on rest a bit.
We are doing another water update, and expect to pump out about 20 gallons (160lbs), plus whatever is in the aft tank (probably 10-15 gallons). This leaves us ~25 gallons, plus 5 emergency. Should be plenty for 5+1 days (in case we break something important).
HF radio propagation continues to be a challenge - possibly shorter and less frequent updates.
A strange reference thing happens in the ocean; "light" wind is anything under 20kts. In the bay or near shore sailing, a 13kt day is 'pretty good', a 15kt day is excellent and over 20 is "exciting windy". Here, because of a combination of the large wave state and the desire to have the boat at max speed all the time, anything less than 20 and the boat feels like it is "wallowing" along at 7.5 kts - a great clip anywhere else.
Last night was clear and warmish, no real squalls and plenty of stars and a moon to shine upon and guide us. We sailed along a silvery road toward the glowing orb until it set into a distant bed of clouds- and revealed an even more brilliant starry night. The calmness allowed us to use a two person watch and let the standby person sleep. That caught the crew up on rest a bit.
We are doing another water update, and expect to pump out about 20 gallons (160lbs), plus whatever is in the aft tank (probably 10-15 gallons). This leaves us ~25 gallons, plus 5 emergency. Should be plenty for 5+1 days (in case we break something important).
HF radio propagation continues to be a challenge - possibly shorter and less frequent updates.
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