29/11/14 12:00 UTC
DIST SAILED: 902 nm
DIST TOGO: 1790 nm
PRESENT SET: SPINNAKER
Variable winds the last 24 hrs. Yesterday afternoon was fairly fresh with NNE upto 22 knots. For ‘CoCo’ these conditions are excellent, as I have explained before. We were eating miles, something we hope to see a result from in today’s position report when available.
Dinner yesterday was therefore prepared at an angle of heel of close to 20 dg., hard work in a hot place. Especially when preparing ‘Salmon Symphony’, a delicious dish composed of salmon (of course), vegetables, potatoes, taste agents, stock, sauces, you name it. Everything wrapped in aluminium foil in generous individual servings, and baked in the oven. An absolute treat handed to us by Henrik and P jr. who’s skills in all departments continue to impress.
Talking of skills, one of ‘CoCo’s secrets to fast sailing is constant, fully focused hand steering. Despite sometimes resembling a 15 ton floating hotel, she is a very responsive sailing boat, and greatly rewards a constant eye on course, waves, wind angles and sail trim. ‘Seagull Johnathan’ loved flying and made it his life to optimise his movements in the air. We are trying to achieve the same thing here, and it is extremely pleasing to see how this ‘feel’ now quickly develops among the crew.
Into the evening and night yesterday, keeping the same sail set, we saw sudden drops in the wind and changing directions. It’s very difficult to keep the pace and not ‘stall’ under such conditions, which is why our helmsmen (all of us) have such an important job.
Otherwise the night was fairly uneventful, with the exception of two flying fish landing in the cockpit. They must have mistaken our navigation lights from their usual runway lights, and sadly, they wrecked. Because we did not discover them before daylight this morning, it was too late for both first aid and sushi. One of them is now hanging as a photo object until everyone has had a chance to capture it. After lunch we will give him a decent burial at sea.
At daybreak this morning, just before sunrise (0700), we hoisted the spinnaker and went into race mode. We immediately started to gain on a couple of competitors in the neighbourhood, very inspiring indeed.
The forecast for the next 36 hrs indicate continued light winds (10-15 knots) from NNE, gradually veering towards E and increasing to around 20 knots. We are well positioned for this, so on a global level we have stopped thinking about north/south positioning, and concentrate on a straight course and optimising boat speed.
To keep a day look like a day, we have started to change the ship clock with the sun. Yesterday we moved to UTC +1 (2 hrs after Oslo), adding 30 minutes to the two evening watches. For all our navigation, communication and ‘official’ purposes, we remain operating at UTC.
Good health and spirits all around, and shorts and T-shirts 24/7 from now on.
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Caribbean Expedition 2015 