Daily Run 229m
DTT 223nm
Lunch Hot Bacon, Cheese and Tomato Baguettes
Dinner Spaghetti Bologniese, followed by home made Brownie
Well lucky for us anyway. Yet again for the 2nd day in a row, we had the best VMG (Velocity Made Good) in our fleet, better than even the faster boats. Our 9.2knot VMG is speed towards target which is the ultimate measure of speed when sailing around a course or between 2 points. Afterall, sailing at 20 knots in the wrong direction may be fun, but won't get you to the Rum!
Of course whilst we are catching boats up, it is still frustrating knowing that we gave away so much when we got stuck and there is no doubt that for several of the boats that overtook us it was just plain luck - being in the right place at the right time, but as I keep telling the crew, once we are in St Lucia with a cold beer in hand, arriving 1st or 5th in our class won't really matter - We will have crossed the Atlantic Ocean using just wind power and our own fair hands on the wheel :-)
We are pleased to be going quickly and having some fairly easy sailing - the thoughts of a juicy steak and a hammock on the beach starting to creep into my mind now. In fact last night whilst I was helimg in the dark hours with watch A, Adolfo asked what would be the highest priority when arriving; hotel bed, toilet or mini bar. It was a fun 30 minutes debating the ins and outs of bed V toilet V mini bar. Of course when I was asked, my answer was "wife - the others don't matter....."
Crew Profile: Eckhard Follmann
Eckhard is 55 years old, from Germany, and an "Atlantic Virgin" but has been sailing 38 years in the Mediterranien, Baltic Sea and English Channel. Also he has done a fair bit of inshore racing. "It's amazing keeping Northern Child going fast under sail for such a long period. It requires concentaration from the team, steering in all the different weather conditions. Thanks to the Skipper and the complete team - having so much fun."
I said a few days ago that once you are under 1000nm to go, the miles just seem to disappear and indeed they have. We are now left with just over 300nm to go and at the current speed, that is under a day and a half. Now is the time to really focus, especially on safety as it is easy to become complacent when we are so close to the end. It is important to remeber that even though we are almost there, we still have 300nm to go. That's over 3 times the distance from land of anywhere on the Fastnet Race course which puts a little perspective on the fact that we are still out on an Ocean for a while longer.
I am quietly hoping that we see some more Dolphins on the run into St Lucia - they have been ominously absent on the way across, we have had 2 sightings, but usually we would expect to see Dolphins most days. I hope that this is due to the rough seas and our track, rather than a decline in their numbers as no matter how many times I see Dolhpins on the bow, it always makes me smile and gives me a comforting feeling - we always associate them with good luck and a fair passage - perhaps that has just explained it!
Right, back to the wheel, we have some ground to make up!
Christian, Tim and crew.