Been a few days since my last post. That's not because things have been
uneventful. They have, but that's not going to stop me from finding
something to say (as you'll soon see). No, it's just that the thought of
sitting in the sauna that is our below-deck area to write was too daunting.
One of the other boats actually has a thermometer and measured 45C (113F)
in the galley. We must be in the same neighborhood. So I've been spending
most of my time on deck, which is also hot but at least has some
circulating air and small patches of shade that get really crowded.
Aside from the absurd heat, the sailing has been easy, almost too easy. The
wind has died down over the last few days, and we were even stopped dead
for a few hours. But we've generally managed to make steady, if slow,
progress. Everyone else is moving pretty slowly too, and we've managed to
overtake two in recent days and gain on most of the others. As I write,
we've just had some wind pick up in a squall. Nothing severe, but a good
wake-up call for the new folks. Squalls are likely to get more severe as we
go.
The night sailing in particular has been amazing. The moon is nearly full,
and the sky is scattered with fluffy clouds that really pick up the
moonlight. It's also really cool steering by the stars. We don't use them
to navigate, but you can figure out your course from the instruments, then
figure out which star you're pointing at, and just steer that way. In the
pre-dawn hours, the moon sets and the other side of the sky really fills up
with stars. I comment quite a bit on the not-so-romantic aspects of
sailing, but these hours at night are the real thing.
We've been a bit light on wildlife so far. There are a lot of flying fish.
Early on, they were small, and flew a few meters in groups of ten to
twenty. More recently, they've been bigger, fly tens of meters, and make a
few turns. I'm guessing they're different species, but I don't know. We had
another bird visitor as well. This one made several passes and briefly
landed in the cockpit before settling in on the bowsprit. He stayed there
for hours until we gybed and scared him off. He came back later and landed
on the rail but got caught in the guard wires. Ryan and Imre managed to
free him, and he flew off. He hasn't been back, so I guess he's learned his
lesson.
One last story, going back to the start of the race. We hoisted the kite
early, but almost had a problem, as the sheet has been run through the
guard wire. Matt caught this as the kite was going up and had me put the
drop line around a free winch, holding the kite while two other guys re-ran
the other sheet. Lots of jargon, but basically is was a quick and creative
fix to the problem, and we were able to get things sorted out with almost
no time lost. I've talked a bit about questions around some of Matt's
tactical decisions, but there's no question that he's a very experienced
sailor, cool under pressure, and the kind of guy you want in charge so that
these little hiccups don't turn into big problems.
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