Making Up Miles

In the last two days we’ve made up some ground on the group of boats that have been in front of us for the last week or so. Jean-Yves Bernot, guru of the great French weather routers, when I studied with him last summer, said ‘try to put yourself in a position to get lucky’. So we did, and we did get lucky, with more wind on our track than on the other boats track, and we’ve picked up both mileage and a few places.

The South Atlantic weather map looks distorted, with a vast swath having little or no wind. Several of the great sailors in this race have gotten caught in there. The frustration level of a sailor with no wind is difficult to describe to non-sailors. You are hundreds of miles from land or your nearest competitor, you have no control over your boat, and you just sit,waiting, as the lead pack of the fleet sails away at 20 knots, gaining hundreds of miles on you in a single day.

We made very good time last night, and we also had a chance to spend some time re-learning some stars and constellations here in the South. Yesterday also we took some videos and photos of the flags that students had made from various schools around the world flying from Great American 4. The connection by the flags reinforces my effort to provide interesting commentary for our students in classrooms globally.

I also had a nice email exchange with Tanguy de Lamotte, whose mast problem aboard Initiatives-Coeur forced him to retire from the race. He is heading home to his family, and so the race result for him is disappointing, especially as he was doing so well, he will be home for Christmas.

Speaking of holidays, today is Thanksgiving Day in the US, a big holiday, and memorable for me because of the capsize at Cape Horn in 1990 on Thanksgiving Day, and the amazing rescue of Steve Pettengill and myself by the crew of New Zealand Pacific, whose Chief Mate Murray Lister now serves on our Team of Experts. Thanks again Murray!

Position
18° 25’S x 23° 07’W
Course
120° True
Speed
13.5 knots
True Wind Speed
14.0
True Wind Direction
005°
Sail Plan
Genoa plus full mainsail
Air temperature
84° F / 28.8° C
Sea Temperature
84° F / 28.8° C