Dear All,
We have had a very intense 24 hours. At about this time Jeronimo and Nano decided that we could win the race to finish line number 2, which could very well be the finish line used to end the race. We were closer to the coast than WTC Logistics and the thought was that in this land of wind holes we might get more wind. They were 37 miles ahead of us and we were doing about 10 knots. From that moment the whole atmosphere changed on board. The tension on board was palpable. Chatter ended. No one spoke. Jeronimo and Nano settled in for a long night. Both remained on deck until the end of the race, taking it in turns to helm roughly every hour in an attempt to eek out every .1 of a knot from every small gust of wind and to keep up the apparent wind speed while at the same time remaining on course, and of course not collapsing the sail. The application and concentration required to achieve this is immense.
From the moment the decision was made to go for it the only conversation was related to sail trim. The spinnaker sheet was eased to the point of collapse and immediately ground on only to be let out again immediately. The constant commands were ‘ease, grind, ease, grind, ease, grind’ etc. Pulling in and easing out the spinnaker sheet which is under huge tension is hard on your hands. After 45 minutes it's difficult to uncurl them from their desperate grip. No one wants to make a mistake and be the one responsible for ruining our chances. For the grinders the biggest challenge is the searing heat and remaining rehydrated. Standing and sitting in the sun on any of these jobs is a challenge. We just hoped the tack line wouldn’t blow again. This would ruin everything.
In order to increase the sail area we put up the staysail. This meant that the leading edge of the spinnaker sheet was obscured from the helm, grinders and the active spinnaker sheet. All these jobs are dictated to by the leading edge of the sheet. Nano stood at the mast looking at the sail giving constant instructions to all in the absence of this information. It all sounds mad but in changing and generally light winds it's all about small margins. Add them all up and maybe the impossible will happen.
Gradually we started gaining on WTC Logistics and eventually we could see them ahead of us on the horizon. Now we had them in visual sight and on the AIS. The game of cat and mouse began. Tension and concentration were the only things on the boat. Little by little we caught them and overtook them. Everyone came on deck for the race finish. No one could take their eyes off the boat racing next to us. It could go either way. They took Finish Gate 1, but Finish Gate 2 is ours! What an incredible job Dan is doing on WTC Logistics and what fun it is to race against him. We continue to race hard, onwards to the third potential Finish Gate.
Love to all,
Anne