Sailing Logic Blog
Sunday, 31 August 2008
RORC Maderia-Cowes Race Report No 7 - The jib top is out....
At last we have managed to make contact with the yacht after about 24 hours. The satellite phone has not been behaving itself, so getting information from the yacht has been a little tricky.
All is good aboard. Everyone is now very tired but spirits, as usual, are very high. There is plenty of laughter and banter despite the tiredness. Talk of returning home has now begun, where to eat, where their 1st drink will be and so on. They are all wondering if Southampton us ready for their homecoming, and will they be able to drink the Waterfront Bar dry on Wednesday!!
As far as our calculations go, we believe Puma to be around 15-20 miles behind Pen Azen, which means on corrected time (Puma has a better handicap) both yachts are neck and neck so there is everything to play for. British Soldier have still to arrive in Cowes after setting off 4 days before Puma and Pen Azen which means at the moment, both yachts are ahead of them, but there is still a long way to go!
Brighty got very excited this morning as the Jib top came on deck. This is a great sign as it means that the wind is freeing them up more and they are able to start going a little quicker, and using a sail specifially for the purpose.
The forecast shows that the wind should back westerley later this afternoon which means that they will then be able to fly the spinnakers and they will be surfing home......great conditions to finish a race.
All the crew have asked me to thank you for the wonderful messages to them - please keep them coming as in these final few days, whilst they are all very tired, it will make all the difference.
At the moment, the yachts eta in Cowes is looking between midnight Tuesday and midday Wednesday. In time honoured fashion they are bound to finish about 4am as most Sailing Logic's yachts seem to do when finishing long offshore races.....we will have to try and sort that one out for the future!