Transatlantic

Race update: Kind of..

It’s pretty incredible sailing here in the Transatlantic race, 2 MOD70 trimarans tearing across the Atlantic Ocean at 30 knots, spray flying everywhere and long streaks of white wake shooting off our transoms.

It’s ‘Master and Commander’ stuff across the high seas – playing cat and mouse with each other, dodging and fencing as we zigzag downwind. Not to fire cannons and capture each other but to be the first in to Grenada and to have beers ready for the second boat to the finish.

Right now there is just 30 miles between us which is hardly more than an hours sailing,,. so its incredibly close at the halfway mark of the course. We are now 1500 miles from both Lanzarote and Grenada.. Don’t look down – its a long way to the bottom!

Conditions are great – 19-23 knots of wind, puffy tradewind cumulus clouds, 2m waves, which we are punching through at 30 knots.. When we first got into these conditions when we gybed at Mindelo in the Cape Verdes it was pretty full on.. Spray everywhere on deck and it was hard to even stand up down below and it was impossible to sleep. But we adapt and now this is the new normal. Water shrieking off the propeller leg, boat jumping around as we bounce from wave to wave, and now we are sleeping fine in our off watch, until its time to go on watch again or we gybe…

We had better be used to it, and this is just what we are going to have for the next 1500 miles, which is a little less than 3 days..

Everyone great on board, loving driving this machine downwind in these conditions.. Its a challenge to keep if fast and safe, and its full concentration on the helm day and night…

Flying fish are everywhere, and every hour or so one will land on the tramp and jump around before using one of the holes in the netting to dive headfirst back into the sea…Some of them are as big as a good size trout.. But not such good eating…

Anyway, better get out the sextant for the noon site, break out all sail, holystone the decks and stay ahead of the pursuing Royal blue ship to the line!

Bye for now from Brian and the Phaedo crew..