1/15/24 5:18 PM Central time
It is looking really good for us to flag in 3rd. We’re slowly gaining on Our Isles and Oceans. They were 7 nm ahead, now less than 6. Qingdao is now in 4th place, but probably not a threat. Cam thinks another 26 hours, but my nav app says <18 hours arriving about early tomorrow morning. Our Isles and Oceans hit something and lost half its port rudder. Not sure how Clipper can repair or replace it before the start of the next race. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be slowing them down. It’s pretty much impossible to sleep due to the heat. The boat had cooled off enough I was able to sleep some from 3am until 7 am this morning.
11/14/24 3:11 AM Central time
We’re in 3rd place! The second place boat is just six miles in front of us. It’s possible the we might be able to pick them off in the appropriately 30 hours we have remaining. The boat in 4th place is 16 miles behind us, so it’s doubtful that they can catch us. Fingers crossed, we may be on the podium at the Prizegiving. We will probably finish very late Monday night and arrive at the dock sometime early Tuesday morning. The winds have been very constant the last few days and are forecast to pick up tomorrow afternoon. It’s so incredibly hot now. We’re at 23 deg. south latitude now and Airlie Beach is at 20 deg. south. We’re crossing the equator and doldrums on the next leg to Ha Long Bay, so it will be even hotter. Poor Liv from Switzerland had probable heat exhaustion and has been recovering from that. Today was the first day she was out of her bunk in several days.
11/13/23 12:57 AM Central time
We’re back to about 5th place here, but going well. The weather is extremely hot, but we had a nice squall today to cool off and take a “shower” on deck. Looking forward to a day snorkeling the GBR. Also, going to a ceilidh (pronounced “kay-ley”) and UNICEF raffle being put on by Our Isles and Oceans. My cough is better, but not gone. I have one more day of antibiotics.
1/11/24 3:32 AM Central time
Staying between the shore and the adverse current has really paid off. We have been in first place the last two scheds. Everyone is focused on making the boat go fast. Just finished cookie duty and in my bunk! No watches for me until tomorrow afternoon.
1/10/24 3:38 PM Central time
Very excited to finally be out in front for once! Andreas and I are cookies today. The boat is fairly flat although we are going upwind. Just finished breakfast and back in bed. The people in Newcastle are so friendly. Vasi and I were having breakfast and too nice local ladies stopped by our table, wished us good luck on the race, and said they hoped we enjoyed Newcastle. We had a really great boat parade and start. There were lots of spectators both on boats and lining the shore. The start was in the narrow channel near the yacht club, which gave them a good view, but made it tricky for us to do the start without playing bumper boats. PSP was pushed over the starting line early and had to take a two-hour penalty. That’s quite a long time on a short leg. We have done fairly well after the start, passing several boats. We are beating, but the winds are fairly light (16-18 knots) and the sea state is fairly smooth. The winds should veer behind us in the next day and it should be a spinnaker run all the way to Airlie Beach. Overall, we expect an easy race.