Saturday, 12 August 2006
Day 6 - Morning report
Puma and Jaguar Logic continue to bash away into Force 5 headwinds. Spirits are high, and everyone enjoying themselves even though living at an angle is creating all sorts of interesting scenarios.
Jaguar have called in this morning, all is well on board but are praying to the wind gods that they can ease sheets a little and flatten the boat off a bit for a little respite. Pete had a close call when he was cooking dinner, as his vegetarian meal nearly got mixed up with the rest of the crews Mutton Stew…..luckily he managed to extricate his plateful before it got all mixed up together.
Looking at the weather forecast, it seems that they have still some hours to go of these headwinds so please think of them out there.
Puma have been very quiet this morning, hopefully it’s because they are trimming so hard that they are too busy to come to the phone.
Things are getting quite tight between some of the yachts; Puma is still held with a piece of elastic with Jeu D’Esprit and Jaguar has now shaken off Predator of Wight. Mostly Harmless and Sidney have both gone off west searching for better wind angles to head further along the race track. They seem to be going quite well out there so it is definitely something to keep our eyes on. The Logic yachts are sticking to the game plan of trying to sail the shortest distance by keeping as close to the rhumb line as they can. This can work 2 ways: if the wind is on the nose (in front) then the yachts have to tack back and forwards to make any headway along the track. This can slow them down as they then have to sail more miles. If they head off shore, you have the risk of sailing more miles initially but then getting a better wind angle and better boat speed to compensate for the longer distance, so you can see, it really is like playing a game of chess out there! As well as these important decisions the skippers Philippe and Pete have to keep morale up on the yacht make sure the helms are steering in the right general direction and also keep everyone focused on the task in hand which is to get home as quickly as they can, safely.
Hopefully more this afternoon. I am now heading up North so that I can be nearer to the action if needed so please bear with me if the reports over the next 24 hours are a little erratic.
Jaguar have called in this morning, all is well on board but are praying to the wind gods that they can ease sheets a little and flatten the boat off a bit for a little respite. Pete had a close call when he was cooking dinner, as his vegetarian meal nearly got mixed up with the rest of the crews Mutton Stew…..luckily he managed to extricate his plateful before it got all mixed up together.
Looking at the weather forecast, it seems that they have still some hours to go of these headwinds so please think of them out there.
Puma have been very quiet this morning, hopefully it’s because they are trimming so hard that they are too busy to come to the phone.
Things are getting quite tight between some of the yachts; Puma is still held with a piece of elastic with Jeu D’Esprit and Jaguar has now shaken off Predator of Wight. Mostly Harmless and Sidney have both gone off west searching for better wind angles to head further along the race track. They seem to be going quite well out there so it is definitely something to keep our eyes on. The Logic yachts are sticking to the game plan of trying to sail the shortest distance by keeping as close to the rhumb line as they can. This can work 2 ways: if the wind is on the nose (in front) then the yachts have to tack back and forwards to make any headway along the track. This can slow them down as they then have to sail more miles. If they head off shore, you have the risk of sailing more miles initially but then getting a better wind angle and better boat speed to compensate for the longer distance, so you can see, it really is like playing a game of chess out there! As well as these important decisions the skippers Philippe and Pete have to keep morale up on the yacht make sure the helms are steering in the right general direction and also keep everyone focused on the task in hand which is to get home as quickly as they can, safely.
Hopefully more this afternoon. I am now heading up North so that I can be nearer to the action if needed so please bear with me if the reports over the next 24 hours are a little erratic.
posted by Sailing Logic at 12:02 PM
