Nasdaq's day began with a peel from Code 3 (heavyweight spinnaker) to Code 2 (mediumweight) shortly after sunrise, watched by an audience of dolphins - even they were impressed at how smoothly the evolution went and how well our new joiners have fitted into the team. We passed halfway today - strange to think that we now have only half an ocean and some coastal sailing remaining of our circumnavigation.
The Skipper celebrated with a halfway shower on deck this afternoon (Cap'n Lance: you should try it - very refreshing, especially where you are!), although without Dani Devine's ("Shout out, shout out!") special shampoo, I'm back to my normal self. Oh well - at least I'm clean.
Another sign that we are approaching "home" is that we are back onto the UK Met Office synoptic weather charts, and with the fleet converging and a rather messy patch of wind ahead in the next day or so, anything is possible in terms of race positions.
The weather though today was so warm and sunny that apart from showering, the other popular activity "upstairs" was taking sun sights. We had the "guessing stick" (sextant) out on deck and like kids with a new toy, everybody seemed to want their turn. We'll see who's really keen when they come to the mathematics that magically transforms the sextant reading into a lat/long.
Cap'n Bob: having been through the great Nasdaq brew crisis on Leg 5, the Nasdaq crew feel your pain re: teabags. As a solution, may I suggest that you heave to, wait for us to catch you up, and we can transfer some of 2,000 or so spares?
We've just run into another fog bank - the helm is struggling to make out the wind arrow at the masthead, so it's no wonder that Visit Seattle (hey Nikki!) has sneaked off in Stealth Mode – no one can see them. I wonder whether they've gone for the Scoring Gate?
Cheers,
Rob