Hi all,
Hope everyone is well!
Things haven't really changed much over the last 48 hours. well except the high-pressure system being squeezed against the coast ahead of us is driving the wind from the south, for now, so the breeze was a little bit warmer! Much more pleasant to spend six hours on deck. However there is a low-pressure system we are trying to outrun, even though it will give us a nice push towards the Finish Line the wind will be much colder and there will be lots of rain with it too! I am certainly looking forward to it being a little bit warmer soon.
Yesterday we hoisted our Code 3 and sailed through the clear night with the moon lit up so bright you could see so clearly where we were going helping us steer in a straight line throughout the Ocean Sprint. This was also very helpful because just as I was popping up on deck at 2300 after my late-night hot chocolate, the port primary winch stopped working so the first thing that happened was we transferred the active sheet, so if the spinnaker collapsed we could still winch it back in. Next was to assess what had happened. We found the bolts that connect the winch to the pedestal had come loose and it wasn't connecting, so we tightened up the screws and found the ones that may have fallen out. Luckily it was working again, so we moved the sheet back to the correct winch and carried on. We were just grateful throughout the whole process we could keep the spinnaker flying, edging that little bit closer to the Finish Line. This morning the wind came even further forward so we couldn't hold the Code 3 up, so we swapped back to our Yankee 1, and we have carried on ripping along very nicely for the rest of the day / evening.
We are now only 50 miles from the end of the Ocean Sprint and have under 500 to go to the finish. We have sailed a nice straight course across the sprint, so fingers crossed we can do well. And with Dare To Lead and Washington, DC close by, there is all to play for right up to the finish.
On on!!
Lottie, Mike and the Crew of PSP Logistics