During the night the wind has picked up further - 13kn speed with 30kn of wind was one particular moment I remember from our shift this morning. That was fun! But also hard work. My team shifts responsibility at the helm every twenty minutes, always in the same order- first Guido, then me, then Stephan. This leaves no room for discussions, which makes things easier. Recommendation: whatever can be decided and structured before or when you sail, do it. There is enough room for discussions elsewhere, and who has to spend how long at the helm shouldn't be one of them.
Early in the morning we overtook another sailing vessel, which we had seen for many hours in the night. Good feeling!
On the drama bit side, our spinnaker boom has started to break to pieces. Since it is made of carbon, that is quite amazing to see. It also meant that our early morning shift was busy changing the way how we attach the spi boom, in itself no easy task even when taking in the Genua, which we did, to reduce the massive force on the boom. For now the setup works. We hope it lasts until Saint Lucia.
Wind has been lessening in the last couple of hours. We are now at 8kn speed.