1) 0800 PDT Position is: 28 deg 27 min N, 128 deg 37 min W
2) CONDITIONS
– Sea: SWELL 6-8′, 3-4′ WIND WAVES
– Sky: OVERCAST but clearing
– Wind Oscillating 020M 16KTS
– Pressure 103.3kPa/1033mB
3) RANDOM COMMENTS: Finally! Getting a taste of what this boat can do. We put together a 200 mile day yesterday and today we are hoping for more. Sorry for the late post but our batteries ran low because the clouds were too thick yesterday for our solar panel to do much.
Just got the latest results and it’s really hard to derive meaning from the overall standings because there are so many different strategies at play here. But so far we like what we see. Hauled down the Beneteau First 40.7 “Ande Amo” overnight and now have the division leading J 105 in our sights 12 miles ahead. He owes us time but not much. If we can see him on the horizon we can probably beat him. We just need to carry an extra half knot of boatspeed today to haul him down. Really looking forward to tomorrow’s standings.
Swapped out the A1 reacher for our brand new A2 – the “Whomper” – the biggest sail in our inventory and the one we’re rated on so we’d best get a lot of use out of it!
We are coming to realize what an incredible downwind machine this boat is. In 16-18 knots of true wind on broad reach we are stringing together extended periods of 11 kts +, with top speed of 14 so far. The big difference between this boat and the heavier ones I have raced in the past is that the low end speed is so much higher because the boat is light. On a heavier boat, when you come off a surf you may slow right down to 6 knots as you bottom out. On this boat, the slow end is 9 kts in today’s conditions, and you can spend extended lengths of time on a surf at accelerated speeds.
All we need to do is to ensure that we keep her well supplied with wind!
