Cheeki Rafiki - Day 17

Another day of drifting. Its been a long, hot slow day. Our speed has been at 0.0 knots with no steerage numerous times and speeds of 2 knots have been among the highlights of the day. That said we have been slowly chipping away at the miles and reducing the distance to the finish. Rankings wise we are holding position.The wind hole we are in spans several hundred miles so most of the race boats are now in it or soon will be. 2 boats have finished and unless something suddenly changes wind wise for the rest of us they will secure 1st and 2nd place. Well done to "Scarlet Oyster" and "Optimax". While we have managed to pull a few miles further ahead of "Milanto" on the water we are still behind her on rating, we need to beat her by about 11 hrs 45 mins for 3rd place. Like us she is stuck. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 16 Continued

10 Reasons why we like Force 1 (1-3 knot) winds mid Atlantic (every cloud has a silver lining but do any have any wind)   1/. We finally get a chance to fish without trawling at 9 knots. 2/. Taking sextant sun sights is really easy as the boat and horizon are not jumping up an down in opposite directions 3/. Plotting sun sights does not involve the error of the run between sights as you have not gone anywhere! 4/. The crew can rest/catch up on sleep 5/. If you are in your bunk you don't get flung from one side to the other every 12 seconds 6/. Cooking no longer takes place at 45 degrees 7/. The kite trimmer does not require a grinder 8/. There is no weather helm 9/. The leg of ham hangs stationary in the middle of the saloon and instead of assaulting anyone who. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 16

Last night Ivan and I came on  watch at 0200 to experience the best rain shower yet, in seconds we were dripping in fresh water and the torrential downpour lasted for about 20 minutes, as always however we did not know how long it would last and dared not lather up with shower gel for fear that the rain might stop any second, leaving us covered in soap but with no way to rinse off. Winds throughout the night were shifty resulting in spinnaker up, spinnaker down, spinnaker up, gybe, gybe, gybe, spinnaker down, pole out headsail, gybe, and so on. On that point the blue ocean spinnaker that was resurrected by the sweat shop a few days ago came back out to play yesterday. We hoisted it carefully and all watched with bated breath as it first filled with wind. Everyone thought's were. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 15

Hi again everyone,we're getting close now ...so a bit of a different blog. Some of the usual stuff for 24h but then the thoughts of each of us at this time.Yesterday, during the day it was fairly uneventful with lightening winds from the same (E) direction so here's the menu for the day; breakfast: hot dogs in brioche with fried onions lunch: sardines and cucumber on toast, lamb stew (boil in a bag) dinner: pasta with melted cheese, canned mango   During the night it was fairly frantic at times. We had a series of squalls chasing us East.Ilya and Doug got the worst of it with winds strengthening and shifting 90 deg in minutes. lots were up on deck to help and got wet in the process. Morning came with quieter seas and winds. We listened to other yachts on VHF saying they were 100. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 14

I have come on watch this morning at 0500. We are 390 miles from the finish, still holding 7 knots boat speed most of the time and surfing a few waves at 8 or 9 knots. The skies are particularly dark as the moon made its journey yesterday afternoon and early evening. As yet we have not seen an update on the fleet rankings.   Before leaving Las Palmas we heard a talk from Chris Tibbs. Following the talk the crew were very apprehensive about experiencing Atlantic squalls. Now that squalls seem to feature on most night watches and have become part of every day life they are considered a benefit. Not only do the squalls increase  boat speed but often provide a fresh water shower for those on deck! Last night we got hit rather suddenly by  a front coming through. read more...