Fractional Gennaker Snaking through the boat
We had a fantastic encounter today when my friend Eric Bellion came roaring up from behind us and passed us close aboard. I had seen him coming on the position reports over the last few days. He has a ‘secret weapon’ in a special sail that Michel Desjoyeaux dreamed up and that gives him about 2.5-3 knots extra speed, and with less load on the boat. It is for downwind as we have and seems to pick the bow up a bit. See the video here, and visit Eric’s website to learn about him.
Also, we made a small repair (of course small repairs may prevent having to do bigger repairs later!) on the fractional gennaker. And we have videos of that process, where I first had to snake the furled sail back through the boat to be able to get at the repair site.
We have passed the northeast ‘corner’ of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone south of Perth, and are proceeding southeast.
Position
45° 41’S x 122° 53’E
Course
111° True
Speed
14.6 knots
True Wind Speed
26/7 knots
True Wind Direction
347°
Log
13,307 nm
Sails
2 reefs in mainsail, staysail
Air temperature
55°F / 12.7°C cabin cockpit
Sea Temperature
53.6° F / 12° C