Thursday 6 december 2007
Position : 9th, 241 miles behind the race leader
After a great performance in the Doldrums, Sam is now far from storms and 35 knots winds. Roxy goes straight to The Azores :
"Finally yesterday morning, I escaped the clutches of the doldrums!! Since then, the wind has been building, right now there are 25 knots. Roxy is close reaching and we are on the express train to the Azores! There is a bit of a chop, and as we are sailing at speeds between 13 and 16 knots, the motion is pretty bumpy to say the least. It is like living permanently on a fairground ride, and even the smallest job is pretty much impossible! I won't bother with a clean T-shirt today because I am sure that I will be wearing some of my lunch! And I think I will need full oilskins to open my bottle of coca-cola! As well as being funny; this motion is also dangerous and I have to be really careful moving about as it is easy to get bumped and bruised. The cockpit is like a washing machine, so the clothing call for outside is full drysuit and ski-mask! Unless going for a shower, when all I will have to do is step outside naked and wait! Roxy has two reefs and staysail. The smallest sail combination since we left Brazil. We will be like this for three more days, as we charge up towards the Azores. The objective is to get to the westerly winds that are rolling across the Atlantic on the bottom of the winter depressions, as quickly as possible. Then we will be able to turn right and head for home! I have been studying the weather forecast and predicted route, and it looks like will sail through the islands of the Azores."
Sam Davies
|
