Nasdaq is lucky enough to be sailing through near-perfect conditions tonight: flat water, enough wind from the right direction, and strong moonlight.
Quite a change from the damp chilly fog of last night, when we switched from Code 2 (mediumweight spinnaker) to Yankee 1 ... and then wished we'd done so earlier as our speed immediately picked up. It's frustrating to have wasted some miles against the fleet, but we're chasing hard now and had been making good speeds until we found some adverse current to slow us down again. The Gulf Stream has become very swirly now, with eddies and counter-currents that don't correspond to Simon Rowell's forecast - pretty and colourful though it is.
In the Nasdaq Bistro today were Damien Egan and Mike Petrie, and they set themselves the challenge of out-brewing Andy "where's me brew?" Greenough. A new record of six large brews were drunk during the morning watch ... which may have contributed to the very distressing behaviour (Nasduck was horrified) seen by the Clipper Race Media Team today - I don't think that photo will make it to the website, Andy!
Damo and Mike's achievement over dinner was to see how much rice can fit into one enormous pot - far too much, is the answer. So, what to do with the leftovers? Well, if any of the other Clipper Race Yachts have hungry crew on board, they're welcome to come and visit Nasdaq tomorrow for breakfast (fried rice) ... and lunch (risotto) ... and dinner (curry and rice) ... each served with all-you-can-eat rice pudding. Good effort boys, but maybe try reading the recipe next time?
Influenced by Kathi Lind-Mottram's reading of Gavin Pretor-Pinney's book, Nasdaq has been cloud spotting today. We saw a Pegasus chasing a heron, but about to be grabbed by a giant oven glove. What have you seen recently?
I've just seen Visit Seattle (hey Nikki) and Sanya Serenity Coast on AIS (g'day Wendo) so better get back up on deck with my crack-on stick!
Cheers, Rob