Race 3 - Day 16
Skipper Report
08 November
Hello Team,
Well it’s “Fizz Friday”, as another working week draws to a close. Seattle would love to join you for a little glass of something this Friday, but I think the wind Gods have other plans for us, unfortunately.
This end, in what is now developing into a drag race for us to see if we can get 4th or 5th position potentially, has seen us “headed” as the wind has backed into the east earlier than we had hoped. I had hoped it would back a little later, allowing us to get further east, so we would have had a more favourable bearing to run to the finish line. Then to make for more of a frustrating day ahead is the developing wind hole over the finishing line.
The wind hole starts developing around midnight and by Saturday afternoon is showing zero wind in the Bay at Cape Town. Our current ETA to the finish line is around 01.00UTC Saturday. “Botherations!” as they say. Oh, and to make it more fun are likely to have to deal with 30-35 kts of wind before then, as the south easterlies accelerate around the Cape of Good Hope and scream up the west coast of Africa. All within less than 200 miles as I write this (0230 UTC).
The finish again has the makings of a tight battle for the mid fleet and shows how competitive this matched fleet of Clipper 70s is. It is a testament to all crews that after a 3,550nm+ of racing that we have seen a number of different strategies and tactics played out that the boats will be close to each other in the final stages.
On that note, just after chatting to you yesterday, Visit Sanya, China’s AIS popped on our TimeZero navigation computer, showing us 15nm apart. So I called them up on the VHF and had a chat with Seumas. (Susan and Jeremy, I understand you’ll be in Cape Town, look forward to catching up over a little glass of something.)
This, hopefully, will be my last blog for this race. If we are still on the course tomorrow when a blog is required, I will ask “Number 1” to do a few lines, as my frustration of not having got across the finish by then may make mine unstable for wider distribution ;-0 Thank you for joining us on Race 3, sorry we didn’t bring you more sights of whales etc. Don't forget to join us on the afternoon of 17November for the start of Leg 3.
In Cape Town, we have three of the current crew leaving, Mark, whose northern humour, and epic one liners will be missed. Sarah who is always quick to get the kettle on with a smile and took control of the pit on “Sounders” watch. ‘Medo’, who will return to join for Leg 6, and has learnt that the South Atlantic is somewhat colder than the Mediterranean and will be rethinking what to pack for the Mighty Pacific leg.
So, Ralph, a quick last one for you for a week or so. What kind of money do fishermen make? Net profits.
Lorraine [Editor note: Dave’s wife], Happy Wedding Anniversary for Sunday, love you. We’ll celebrate next week, when you arrive. Have a great weekend with Adie and Rachael and Happy Wedding Anniversary to you both as well.
That's it for now,
Dave & “Number 1“