This has been one hell of a race with Coyote as I'm sure you can see by the tracker. They are right on our Okole and it has been a real dog fight. In light air they are faster in stronger breeze we have an edge but ever so slight. One minor change on sail trim and things can change quickly. It is exciting to have a RYC buddy boat and friend to race to the very end. While the race on paper is pretty much over on the rating issue, the first to line is still compelling enough for us to carry on with conviction.
We all had fresh water showers tody and used the last bit of water in the forward tank. We still have about 20 gallons left in the aft tank and some bottled water. It should be plenty to get us thru. The crew has been joking that the dinner meals are so scrumptious and massive that soon after, the crew has the pulse rate of a lizard on a cold slab. Shortly thereafter a food coma sets in and everyone wants to sleep and when they do the snoring is a collective crescendo that rattles the rigging and keeps the whales at bay.
Still seeing gobs of flying fish and the nights have been clouded over and dark with some rain. Last night wasn't as difficult as the night before. We also have entered the military Rim Pac war exercise zone with the US, Japan, China and other countries involved. We have a list of assets from destroyers, aircraft carriers, submarines from participating countries and it is in the hundreds. I'm sure we will see some activity tonight. We have had four container ships come by pretty close at night. AIS is great for identification and I hail them on VHF to make sure they see us. Then we have a quick chat and everyone knows where we are headed. Safety first. We are changing our watch schedule until the finish with essentially two alternating teams of 3 on deck for 4 hours and reverting back and forth until the finish.
We are all very excited to see our loved ones, family and friends. We are craving a cold iced down umbrella drink and/or COLD draft beers.
Cheers Capt'n Gary
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2 comments:
Last night we were thinking about you all out there n the open ocean…a little worried. We were under a flood alert here on the windward side of the island. The wind, thunder and lightening carried on thru the night….made for a less restful night...Happy to see your blog today. The extra night watches sounds like a good idea…Be safe…
Caroline and Dale
Be safe ….see you soon!!
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