380 miles from Australia, and Racing Again
Position: 40,24.5S , 113,11.98E
Speed: 10 knots, Course: 347 deg.
We are presently 380 miles from the southwestern tip of Australia. It seems a trivial feat now that the winds are light and we have gained more confidence in our situation but 72 hours ago we were in a “preservation of the yacht” mode and now we are racing again.
The whole fleet has compressed as the leaders entered a high pressure bubble first and you may have seen on the 10:00 position report that ABN2 had taken
the lead. I think this will be short lived because ABN 1 had invested in the north and west and should have a bit more pressure and a better angle as we exit the high pressure bubble.
Still, the fleet will be much more compact as we round Eclipse Island tomorrow and head east for the 1300 mile leg to Melbourne. The initial wind should be about 20 knots from the East so we will be going upwind and it will be fairly bumpy. We will have to judge the conditions carefully to make sure we don’t cause further damage that could keep us from getting to Melbourne.
Today’s conditions-light winds and sunshine- were perfect for a big maintenance day onboard. Craig and Curtis glued the boom-vang bracket back electronics, we dried out the entire boat, put away some of the cold weather clothes, etc. Just like at home, you have to clean up your house every once in a while.
Today was chocolate bar day, a day that comes around only one in every 5 days. Usually this puts everyone in a good mood and it did today for all but one person..Erle Williams. Someone stole Erle’s chocolate bar. So we formed a grand jury to investigate the matter. The panel interviewed witnesses and suspects. In the end the conclusion of the jury was that there was insufficient evidence to convict any of the Pirates of stealing and that the more likely truth was that the person who packed the chocolate bars only packed 9. The identity of that person was not immediately
available.
Humor is an important part of any society. We are getting along well and this is after all our first leg of racing together. It is a long way around the world in the best of circumstances so it is important to have a cohesive unit onboard.
Night is approaching now and it will be light wind evening which sounds nice but in fat is fairly difficult as you don’t have enough pressure and speed to give the boat of lot of directional stability so helming the boat requires a lot of concentration.
I hope all the shore teams have a nice weekend this weekend as once the boats hit Melbourne I think there will be serious work going on in all
camps.
Paul Cayard
Pirates of the Caribbean
