Sarah Mercedes - Day 11

A busy day of kite activities. First hoist happened at around 10 am, and for an hour we sailed at the limit of the heavy kites capacity. An oncoming squall spoiled our fun however as after only an hour we had to put the kite away. Come the afternoon, we once more felt it light enough for the heavy kite and so up she went. We were once again trucking along quite fast until pop went the halyard shackle. The kite disappointingly plummeted to the water. What wasn't disappointing, was the crews' reaction. Everyone on deck within seconds. Kite on the boat within half a minute. A thunderbirds type performance. Unfortunately, this does mean we are without a heavy kite as the rips are large and plentiful. This poses significant danger to our lead in our cruising division (don't be mislead by "cruising"). With just over 1000 miles left, and our lead shrinking bit by bit, all is pointing to a grand stand finish early next week on the Caribbean waters off St Lucia.