So after days of little change, we have had two very busy nights. The first one the wind shut down and we gradually changed from our small sails to our biggest, going through all the “gears” from the Yankee 3 and Reef 3 all the way through to Yankee 1 full main all overnight. The crew stepped up to the challenge willingly, heading out onto the wet exposed foredeck each time all in an effort to go faster than our travelling companion's Perseverance and Qingdao. Then as the sun revealed itself from behind the grey clouds it was time for the spinnakers to get aired. First the Code 3, our smallest, then shortly after as I decided that the Code 3 was a little too conservative, we changed to the Code 2, the middle size. This was flying well, if a little tricky on the helm with the slowly settling swell pushing the boat around a bit. When in the early hours of the morning (everything seems to happen at around 3-4) the code 2 decided it had had enough as the tack, tripped itself, leading to an unplanned drop. After a moment of stunned silence, everyone jumped into action. Down came the Code 2 and back up went the Code 3. The race was on to get the Code 3 repacked and re-hoisted as quickly as possible. Everyone pulled together and the Code 2 is now back up driving us along. To add to the action during this time the wind shifted so a gybe was needed as well. Ocean racing is like this, days of nothing much changing then moments of intense action as everything happens at once before we go back to the waiting.
Dan, Laura and the team