It has been an up and down morning and midday for us on Ericsson 3. We have been stuck in no wind, up and sailing in over 12 knots on flat water, and then stuck again. One nice thing though is that the air temperature has become very nice and warm and the times when we have had wind it has been very nice sailing.
Mid morning local time and most of the lads on Ericsson 4 have not slept for the past 24hrs. The conditions are difficult to say the least.
Yesterday was a day of mixed feelings, as Ericsson 3 managed to close the gap right up to their sistership, and we stopped. Puma, who was easily behind us at that stage, kept offshore as a result and kept the breeze a little longer and sailed right around us.
Not too much was decided in the ‘decisive gybe’ a couple of days ago. It made it more difficult for some and easier for others, but since then we have had lots of opportunities:
The finish is within sight, and the fight for fifth is still continuing. With the big split over the last 24 hours, each position report is a message from above to tell us what conditions the others are in. Are they gaining or losing? What is their wind like? How fast were they?
We are now approaching the whale exclusion zone off of Boston – I only hope someone has told the whales to stay in it.
My right hand arm is getting bigger and bigger! We have started using the hand watermaker and the only way Nipper (Guy Salter) will allow you to have a coffee is if you pump your own water into the kettle! In addition to each of us pumping for half an hour a day, at least, into the main water tank.
The last few days have been quite something. . We have had 30+ knots of wind and we have been completely becalmed all in the space of 48 hours and to top that off, we have been VMG downwind, upwind and pretty much everywhere in between.
From sailing upwind in 20 knots of wind and bumping over the waves, we have now almost stopped.
It has been a tough 24 hours, bashing upwind in sometimes squalls with more than 35 knots, with a very unpleasant sea state. The temperatures are dropping quickly; the sea temperature is now only 12 degrees.
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