Could the statisticians please let me know if this is the slowest 'sprint' ever in Clipper Race history? Between the wind holes, headwinds and gyres (swirly bits) of the East Australian Current, we seem hardly to be moving, and there was a period last night when we were actually going backwards! I don't know how much detail the Race Viewer gives of our track, but looking at our screens onboard, Nasdaq seems to have traced a picture of a whale in the ocean with all of our meanderings.
Speaking of whales, we have had a couple of appearances by groups of pilot whales, or maybe it was the same group - they can travel faster than us. They made Alex Weaver's day anyway - she has been waiting to see whales ever since leaving Gosport and not really got closer than other crew members helpful "did you see that spout over there?" or "I think I just saw a fin". These whales followed us for several minutes - possibly through curiosity, possibly as a silent protest against us allowing Tomo "Hobbit" Boys access to the deck speaker.
Once again, the logbook is overflowing with various combinations of the words: Yankee, Staysail, Windseeker, Up, Down, and Tacked as we try to make the most of what little wind we have. In between all of that we have found time for some lessons in sail theory and a full-on assault on the jobs list, whilst chasing patches of shade around the deck. Some of the crew seem to spend as much energy avoiding the fierce sun as they do avoiding our Mate, Dave Hartshorn's jokes ...
Cheers, Rob.