A good day once again

Position: 48,14.33N , 16,30.99W

Speed: 22 knots, Course: 53 deg.

May 19 has proven to be a good day once again. We have made steady gains on Brasil1 and Ericsson. Today happens to be my birthday. The first that I can remember spending at sea.

The mood onboard The Black Pearl has been somber today just as it is on all boats I am sure. A lot of reflection is going on.

We have had fairly strong winds today, up to 38 knots in the gusts. We sailed with our fractional spinnaker most of the day but have no taken it down now that it is dark and are sailing with double reef in the mainsail and a blast reacher. I am sure most of the other boats are doing the

same… throttling back.

We hit 39 knots 3 different times today. It is a pretty rough ride at these speeds. The sea way here is very short and steep. We have done plenty of nose dives burying the bow all the way back to the mast. I pushed the copy button to engage the stern mounted camera quite few times today.

We are now just 450 miles off Lizzard Point, the “gate”” we must pass through prior to heading to Portsmouth. There is a scoring gate where each place is worth 0.5 points. The coefficient for the leg finish in Portsmouth is 1.0.