Telefonica Blue Leg 4 Day 5

Today has been a day of snakes and ladders.  The day started badly, it was something akin to being stuck in a traffic jam in the middle lane of the motorway with the traffic hurtling by on both sides.  Puma, Ericsson 4 and ourselves all sat in little wind, whilst Ericsson 3 and Telefónica Black whizzed round either side of us leaving us sat in the middle scratching our heads. 

Things have got better though and when we eventually found our way into better pressure.  We also managed to put ourselves in a band of good current; with the two and a half knots under us at times we were back on a ladder for a while!

It would be fair to say that as the day progressed, tactical things became more interesting as the fleet has been scattered out across the South China Sea.  We just have to wait and see now if it will pay off for the guys who took a hit to get to more right hand winds or if the others (including ourselves), who have spent much of the day trying to make the best speeds possible towards, the mark will prevail. 

We have had a few more reefs to dodge as well this evening; they seem to manage to line themselves up beautifully with our boat despite our best efforts to avoid them!  We were close enough to smell the scent of land when we passed by less than a mile away from some small islands in the black of night and with no moon to light our way, it was impossible to see them despite knowing they were so close.  With any luck the small tack we had to make to avoid them will not prove too costly and we can finish the day on a few ladders and give the snakes a wide berth... 

Time will tell all, the sched coming up in less than an hour will surely be an interesting one!

Simon Fisher - Navigator