0 Update Tuesday 16th January
- by David Lawson
- 16-01-2018
Sunrise with Liverpool on the horizon
When I went to bed last night we had Liverpool and Sanya both ahead of us. Now it’s 4am and we have Liverpool behind us and Sanya off our port bow. The guys on the previous watch have done a great job in keeping up the pace.
As the dawn breaks we are treated to a lovely sunrise. The islands just off the coast are visible through a murky light.
We are still flying our smallest spinnaker and there’s some discussion as to whether we should have a bigger kite flying and with this in mind we bring our code 2 sail onto the deck. Sanya seem to be flying a bigger spinnaker but they don’t seem to be able to control it too well.
As the morning progresses Matt appears on deck. We’re leaving the small spinnaker flying and now Sanya decide to make a spinnaker change. Later I will find out that Sanya thought we were flying a larger spinnaker and decided to make a change to match our sail plan.
We can see Seattle ahead of us and we’ve reduced the gap from 5.5 miles to 4.5. Could we catch them in time if we can keep the pace up??
As the morning progresses it’s evident that we can’t close the gap on Seattle although we’re putting more and more distance between us and Sanya.
As we close in on Airlie Beach we’re all on deck either allocated to a role to keep the boat sailing fast or sitting on the high side.
There’s lots of wind as we make a final turn towards the finish line and it’s going to be a podium finish for PSP after all…….2nd is our final placing.
Well what an achievement. We’re all delighted and it’s congratulations all round. After a great race start we chose to head out into the ocean to hopefully catch some current to help push us northwards. With wind on our nose most of the way and an elusive chase for the favoured current we went from top of the rankings to the bottom fairly quickly. But with perseverance and clean sailing and a final wind push from behind we once again proved just how fast our boat is. She’s certainly the fastest in the fleet and we’re definitely sailing more miles than any other boat in the race. Somewhere in there if we can get the right mix of speed and route then there will be no stopping us. We’re climbing the leader board and who knows where this could all end when PSP finally arrive in Liverpool in July.
Personally, I think we’re in with a good shout to win the 2017/18 race! But for now it’s beer time…….cheers!
Another picture of me with a beer….oh and a coke this time too!