FINAL DAY
We have 125 miles to go and subject to any unforseen disasters we should cross the finish line about 04.00 UTC on the 11th December (midnight on the 10th in St Lucia, 1500 hrs on the 11th in Australia).
We are now experiencing our best winds to date and we have just cracked the magical 200 mile day.For those sailors amongst you here are some stats. We would have completed the 2850 miles in seventeen and half days at an average speed of 6.8 knots. The highest wind speed we experienced was a gust of 30 knots which lasted all of 30 seconds. The average wind speed was 9 to 10 knots for the whole trip, with no head winds and the sea was mostly calm with little swell. There were a few squalls around, but with the radar as our early warning device we managed to dodge most of them.
We should cross the finishing line about 30th out of 220 boats, which includes all the race boats and the large 80ft yachts. We were 2nd across the line in the multihull division, being beaten by a Freydis 46 designed boat.
Unfortunately due to the lack of wind we had to motor for 35 hours, which will no doubt cost us dearly in the final rated results.The boat went like a dream (thanks Roger and the team at Lightwave) and bar a couple of swivels breaking, which caused us to rip the spinnaker (again!!) there has been no other failures.
Thanks to all our crew for making it a great trip and their help in their field of expertise. Barry for repairing and mending any gadgets that went wrong, also for happily doing the graveyard shift that nobody else wanted. Also his wife Kate our ground crew for helping Penny to prepare several meals for the freezer prior to departure.George the autopilot for not missing a beat! Andrew for his great knowledge in sail setting which enabled us to get the best speeds with the little wind we had; – he has taught us heaps, even doing a letterbox drop!Thanks to Emily for keeping us all entertained with cards, scrabble, monopoly, battleships, yahtzee, rummycup, yoga, pilates and lots of knitting. And for catching some great fish which gave us four meals. Last but not least to Penny for keeping us well nourished with a variety of great meals from Thai fish cakes to coq au vin, the slap up cooked breakfasts, cakes, and an endless supply of snacks and sweets.
