Things are looking up. The end is near

Position: 55,19.86N , 1,53.3E

Speed: 11 knots, Course: 173 deg.

We finally have some good steady breeze, and maybe, just maybe, we are done with all the weirdness. Were are on port tack sailing fast on the wind, that is 11.5 knots, and aiming just below the last mark which bears 156 degrees. At this speed, if it holds, we could finish at 1400 local time Saturday.

We lost a bit on Brunel in the last two skeds. Not sure exactly why, but I think we have the upper hand now. They are to leeward and behind the beam so were are sailing a bit “fat” trying to gain bearing on them expecting the wind to lift to 090 which is what the lead group has.

We have stacked absolutely everything we can to gain righting moment. Both Brunel and ABN2 are wider boats than us so in this power sailing, they may be faster. Strangely, I notice that ABN1, which is usually about 1 knot faster than the Farr boats in this condition, lost some ground to Brasil1 and Ericsson on the last sked.

Immediately after finishing tomorrow afternoon, we will have to begin getting organized for the import race on Sunday. Our shore team will meet us at the finish and start helping. We will be about 10 hours behind the lead group when we finish this leg so time will be tight.

We are pretty happy to see this speed because we can now eat once every 9 hours and Juggy says we should have enough diesel to keep the instruments going all the way to the finish.

Needless to say, we are all looking forward to finally getting to Holland. Our shore team says the facilities are great so we are looking forward to our four days there.

Things are looking up. The end is near.

PC