Date 24 May 2005
Location North Atlantic
Weather Overcast and hot
Heading 315 degrees
Skipper's Comments
For over half the leg we have been flying along at speeds that are commonly in excess of 10 knots. Only if boat speed dropped to less than 10 knots, did we demand a sail re-trim to address the loss in boat speed.
Regular 24-hour runs above 200 miles over the last two weeks were giving us fantastically early arrival times into Boston. We knew that these dates being produced by our random date generator on both the GPS and the electronic charts would be wishful thinking. However, you can't help getting excited when you see only eight days remaining despite the fact that you have to maintain a boat speed of 11 knots.
For all the mileage we have been covering daily we had a harsh reality check yesterday. The wind speeds dropped to less than 10 knots, which wouldn't even cause a ripple with our Challenge Class Flag let alone push a 45 ton steel Challenge Yacht down wind.
We were back to being downwind under spinnaker. We were actually looking forward to this moment, as we had no repairs to perform on our kites and, according to the Challenge Fleet grapevine other crews have been busy sewing spinnakers for some time. Unfortunately sailing dead downwind in light airs is a slow process and it took some time for the crew to get used to seeing the change in boat speed figures. When you are used to seeing 10-14 knots, it is very difficult to get excited at 6 knots.
This pace of life may need to be addressed so everyone is prepared for it for a few more days. Looking at our weather file we may have some more light patches ahead. This will certainly test everyone's patience and frustration levels. It seems that there are pockets of breeze and pockets without breeze and we are desperately trying to get ourselves in some steady breeze so that we may maintain pace and then slowly claw back the miles on those directly in front. Abandoned are the conversations of all the things we might do in Boston with the extra time we may have. Now we are using the guidebooks carefully to plan our valuable free time in the event that it is made shorter.
Still we are back to inching along, trying to get our big arsed girl to glide effortlessly through the water as fast as she can towards Boston. This is a thankless and incredibly focused task that wears even the toughest of crews down.
Big heavy seas may be physically tough, but light airs will definitely fry the brain much quicker.
Dee Caffari/Yachting World, 24 May 2005
