EH01 - So close you can almost smell it!

Hi Everyone,

Another entry after no sleep for the last 24 hours or so... So please excuse
general English and grammar por favor...

After what has seemed like the longest 48 hours this trip, I am pleased to
say the good ship EH01 is back on the move towards our final destination. We
managed to keep the boat moving south yesterday to sail a slightly faster
angle towards Barbados, with the wind starting to fill in around midnight
last night. After running most of the day yesterday under our kite we took
it down as the wind filled to around 15-20 knots in the early hours of this
morning. We switched our rig to a poled out headsail and have been cruising
along nicely since at around 8 knots. The wind is at a slightly awkward
angle, blowing directly from the east meaning that if we sail directly down
the lay-line to our mark north of St Lucia we are on a dead run creating
slower boat speeds. To prevent this, we gybed at around 4 am this morning
and are sailing slightly further north of our mark to create faster angles.
We plan to gybe back again at some point this afternoon, hopefully on our
final run into St Lucia!!

I have given up on guessing ETAs (I always end up disappointed!). All I can
pretty much guarantee is that we will be there within the next 24 hours!!
Fingers crossed before last orders at the bar tonight! Ever the optimist...

The crew morale is still good, the sun is shining and the music's blasting.
The Bob Marley is on standby for arrival across the finish line. We are all
planning to stuff our faces this afternoon on the left over food (my eyes
are on the cheese). We might even have enough fresh water left for a quick
shower this afternoon... living the dream.

Sorry todays entry has been brief, Hopefully the next time you hear from me
will be my final entry and post race party de-brief! I'm off to try and
sleep for an hour or so but after the copious amounts of coffee I have drank
over the last 24 hours to stay awake, its not going to come easy!!

Nick and crew


S.V 'EH01'
www.GlobalYachtRacing.com