Hi Everyone

We've damaged our no 1 again, same issue due to crossed halyards. Hopefully we can repair it enough for the lighter winds we are expecting shortly.

Otherwise all well. Looks like we went too far East. We were hoping to cross before the high got to us. If we did so we would have had downwind conditions all the way to Black Rock. Unfortunately it swallowed us up, and then there was nothing we could do. Fortunately it released us all around the same time. In this scenario we knew we would be left in a more upwind position than others in the fleet, but as  the wind has more S in it than forecast boats like BritishSoldier have still managed to close reach to the BlackRock. otherwise we'd be looking better.
Excuses, excuses, ... and forecasts!

We've been joined by lots of dolphins, lovely to see them. Not a significant amount of other shipping around in this area of the world. Sun is shining, lovely wind and we're charging along under #4 and reefed main. So nice to warm up, such a big difference to the far North Atlantic. Did you know that Muckle Flugga is further North than Cape Horn is South? Passing areas of Donegal, what a stunning landscape in the dawn light. We've even had some crew wanting to pass up their time on the helm to see it.

The spin cycle is now back on, maybe we had a power cut. at least the powers that be decided on a light cycle, not a heavy wash for us so far today. Probably because we had a clean up yesterday?

Back to sail repair, few other minor fixes and then sleep. Our routine is sleep/sail/fix, shovelling in food during the gaps. The real heros on board are those that frequently work down below, quietly getting food/drink when needed, cleaning up, without complaints in the tough and wet conditions. Sometimes a thankless task but so important to our well being and capability to drive the team forward in top condition. Thanks guys.

Juno, Gareth says Happy Birthday! Present is in the post, honest. We watched him post it as we went round MF. At least we think he was posting something overboard as he was leaning out feeding the fish..

Spirits are high, and sailing hard

Love to all, do keep the messages coming in!

Playing Around xxx

‘What a Difference a Day Makes’

As many of you already know, we have two adopted boat songs; The Levellers ‘What a beautiful Day’ which gets played in the morning and the Black Eyed Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ which is traditionally our evening after dinner song.  They worked exceptionally well on the Round Ireland Race to help give us a lift in morale at vital times of the race and will always serve as a reminder of our finest victory to date.  Please note, I say ‘to date’

For some reason on this race it has not seemed appropriate to play those songs as regularly, I am not quite sure why but it hasn’t.  Maybe it is because we had such an amazingly successful time and led the fleet most of the way round the course last time and this is so very different, perhaps it is because three of the team members from that race are not with us, or could it be that they will be played once we are back in the running to symbolise the return of the mighty Puma.

Every day at lunch time I play a new song that blares out of the deck speakers.  It is a song I feel appropriate to the circumstances and represents something that has happened or an emotion experienced.  Yesterday as we overtook Winsome it was to be Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ (Becki’s recommendation).  Now this may not be one of Queens greatest classics but it certainly cheered us up at the time and gave us a small lift at the time.

Today it was Jamie Callum’s ‘What a Difference a Day Makes.’  Perhaps not the most uplifting song ever, in fact it is more akin to the swing style of the Brat Pack, but it was quite poignant and said everything about today, just in the title.  Added to this was the mellow atmosphere on deck as everyone sat eating their noodle soup, whilst  staring at the contrasting calmness of a gentle eight knot breeze blowing over the flat calm Atlantic, pushing us through the deep blue and inching us ever closer to our next target.  The perfect song for a perfect moment, it summed up exactly how everyone on the boat was feeling.  Yesterday was just a distant memory, a day that we know we had to endure to make us appreciate with fullness days like today.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly everything changes out here both with nature and the mental dynamics of a team, it will come as little surprise that the two are quite often closely interlinked!  Today we marvelled at the cliffs of Saint Kilda as they majestically towered several hundred feet straight out of the Atlantic.  As we passed by we were only a few hundred metres away from one of the most amazing landscapes I have seen in many years.  The jaggedness of the rocks, diversity of shapes and strangely beautiful harshness of the most westerly outpost in the British Isles left me speechless.  The past forty eight hours were worth every second just to witness one of the British Isles best kept and probably least explored treasures in full glory.

Sailing and offshore yacht racing in particular are about continually finding solutions.  Every other hour a new problem will rear it ugly little head with the intention of pushing us a little bit further and a little bit harder.  Often they are physical issues with the boat and sometime they are about us, the individuals on board.  As the days progress the intensity of the problems seem to increase and pose a greater challenge than a similar one did just days before.  Sometimes the solutions seem to find us and help make me appear to be a better leader!  I obviously do not go out of my way to put everyone right on their potential misconception, but sometimes I have to admit I can not really take too much credit for the solutions; they just present themselves, we embrace them and move on as a happier and more united team.

Today the weather has improved, Puma is spotlessly clean, I have changed my underwear of the past week, we are sailing well and pushing hard and we have passed the half way stage.  We are still enjoying what seems to be an endless supply of fresh fruit when our competition has long since run out.   The batteries are hopefully taking a better charge now more work has been done on the engine!  We may even have enough diesel to keep our electricity supply going till the end of the race!

So as you can see Visit Malta Puma is a happy ship today and we are revelling in the light conditions and sunshine.  We are seizing the opportunity to re-charge our own batteries and for once I am actually enjoying light wind sailing! 

As you are all probably fully aware, if Encore beat British Soldier into 2^nd place on this race then we only have to finish in 5^th in IRC 1 to lead the RORC Championships.  Up until now we have been relying on the fact that Encore is doing a great job at the front of the fleet by keeping British Soldier at bay.  However, at lunch time we had a team discussion (I told them how it was) and decided that we cannot rely on Encore beating British Soldier! 

To guarantee our top place in the series we are going all out for a position that will prevent British Soldier from stealing the trophy from under our noses even if they win this race.  If we come 3^rd in IRC 1 of the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race then British Soldier can do nothing.  There is only one thing for it then……

As Jamie Callum quite rightly says ‘What a Difference a Day Makes.’

Well, we are still unsure how this will unfold. We now have the SE we were expecting as the centre of the high pressure passes above us, albeit a little late. It seems to have tracked a bit further S than on our gribs, and we got caught up in it. Those slightly S like Encore managed to escape its clutches better. THose further West we think should also get out earleir, but should have headwinds. Will they, have they? Some battles  you win, some you lose, ah well. the war isn't over yet.

Now we're heading down the N Irish coast and 5-6kts towards Tory Island.

We're hoping to get some kind of land breeze by hugging the coast over the next 24hrs as the forecast doesn't look great for sailing. The massive Asail is up and it is amazing we can acheive these average speeds in just 7-8kts of wind. We're been visited by hoards (is that the right term?) of dolphins, playing in the bow wave  (when there is one!) and we think observing us wondering what we are doing out here. Well we're not sure too! Having said that right now we can't think of a nicer place to be, such a beautiful warm evening, moon has just risen and the stars are out. phosphoresence can be seen daning in the wake.

Its been a lovely day on board...for sunbathing. Thermal layers have been discarded, minor repairs effected and general clean and tidy up after the last few big days. Gareth & Louise both did mast climbs to put in the new halyard, so now we are able to fly a fractional kite again - if we need to.

Everyone has enjoyed the packet meals, and we're fully recharged and ready for the next stage. Please, please, let there be wind, but not too much. Roger was overheard saying at the briefing that he'd like to see some real tough conditions at some stage, though we think now he rather wished he hadn't said that.

It's Louise's Birthday in an hour, we're trying to think of a suitable treat. I'm sure we'll be imaginative with the food somehow!

Many thanks for all the messages, we're receiving them and they really help to galvanise us to keep going, especially when the tiredness kicks in. Time now for my 2.5hr sleep, night night!

Pete

After making such great progress yesterday, Visit Malta Puma have slowed down, and lost some valuable mileage to the leaders of Class 1 during the night.

All is not lost, it is just she is going through the same light patch of breeze that the others passed through earlier. The good news is that it was Playing Around Logic that made up the most ground, taking some 11 miles off British Soldier and 3 miles from Encore. The yachts to the east of the course are now travelling quickest, but I think that this will steady off as they near the next mark of the course, when the yachts from the west converge and all yachts have a similar wind. Some more good news is that Puma is now 14^th overall, that should give them some heart today.

The yachts are all now making some good speeds, with only British Soldier down to the 5 knot area.

News from the yachts is that is it Louise Scanlon’s birthday today on Playing Around, Happy Birthday Louise!

Playing Around Logic during the night has a slight technical issue with their engine – it is working fine, but their system alarm keeps going off when the engine is on, which means that anyone down below off watch trying to get some sleep, has to bury their head with hands over their ears to stop the noise.

We are working with the engineers at the moment to try and come up with a solution. The engines on race yachts are allowed to be used so long as they are not put into gear to propel the yacht forward. The engine is needed to charge the onboard battery system which in turn powers all the instrumentation, navigation lights, interior lights and the essential water-maker. The onboard technical team think it is just a malfunction of the alarm as everything else is working perfectly.

Both teams have now been at sea for 9 days. It is about this time when everyday tasks on board, and the watch system is becoming second nature and the thought of getting up at 2am to do a 3 hour night watch is just routine. Gone at the moment are the fierce weather conditions they encounters 3 days ago, and they have beautiful sunshine, flat seas and glorious sailing, Peter Robson, Skipper of Playing Around has said that they have been accompanied by dolphins for most of the sail from MF, and that they have watched them endlessly ‘playing around’ in the bow wave of the yacht. I can think of no better sight!

Well well…..Visit Malta Puma, up until now in the RORC Championships have definitely being the Hare, the one that everyone has been chasing, the one that everyone, whatever the class wants to beat. British Soldier, Puma’s main adversary was overheard to say after the Round Ireland Race that no-one celebrates victory until Philippe has come in, as they know he fights until the bitter end.

Fighting, this is more like war!

The hare became the tortoise after the unscheduled pit-stop at Great Yarmouth, where Puma lost 20 hours on the rest of the fleet. This equated at the time to some 150 miles behind Encore. Well, the tortoise has been slowly but surely creeping up, and tactically today Philippe has got it right. He has stayed west, after seeing those who went further east slow down significantly, and is virtually mirroring the path that British Soldier has taken some 8 hours earlier. The weather is still pretty light and flukey, so every half a knot is worth its weight in gold. When you are sailing at slow speeds, even half a knot can make a huge difference. For example, if a yacht is travelling at 5 knots, and another at 5.5 knots, that is actually 10% quicker…quite a good statistic to think about. Half a knot can just be someone trimming more effectively or the crew hiking out harder, or indeed the spinnaker been set accurately or the pole being at just the right height; it all can make such subtle difference but for those crews who are concentrating it can mean huge advantages.

Playing Around Logic have decided to gybe back west this afternoon, and we are pleased about that. They are still less than 30 miles behind Encore but to get any nearer they must make sure they leave nothing to chance. They are going a similar speed to Encore which is great, and are keeping Cheeki Rafiki at bay. Cheeki Rafiki seems to have cut the deficit between them and Encore substantially today but so has Puma – they are now just 65 miles behind Encore and going twice as fast – this is great news. However we know the forecast will continue to bring light airs so finding the breeze will become imperative to make gains. Encore tactically this race have not put a foot wrong so it will be interesting to see if they come out of this particular fight better or worse than the others. My bet is that British Soldier are in the better position at the moment, but I  may have to eat my words during the night!!

No blogs or communication from Visit Malta Puma today – in some respects I am glad about that, so they can make use of all of their efforts in making that boat go fast!!

Allie