Maiden Update from Heather – 25th and 26th of April 2023

We were working by head-torch light, overnight to fix our A5. The zip at the head of the sail tore off and we needed to stitch it back on by hand in order to re-hoist it safely. In total 6 of us worked in shifts to get it back up and running over the course of 6 hours. The A5 was hoisted again and back in business!

As we reach over the halfway point, the once frantic sound of trimming has become less frequent. Its easy to get a bit too settled into boat life and completely forget about the world outside. However, now we are in racing mode, we have to keep sight of the main goal- SPEED

Now refocused- the winches are alive with the symphony of trimming. The boat is sailing faster and straighter then ever with our average speed over the afternoon 10.5- 11knts.
We will have to work on keeping up momentum on the upcoming legs- this will be important when we are racing for real. These trial legs are so important to work out what we need to improve on and what strengths we can utilise to have an advantage on our competitors.

We have just turned to our last ocean chart- it shows our destination and the crew are excitedly couting down the miles until we reach Brazil. ?

26th April 2023

1748UTC

Fix- 27°37’S, 029°08’W

The wind became progressively lighter throughout the day so we did a peel spinnaker change from the A5 to our A2 and have carried on making good speed. Our average speeds during this trip are substantially better then on previous legs- so all of the hard work during maintenance and now onboard is paying off.

We had two sightings of a turtle today! The girls are hoping to see another whale before the trips end.

Preparations are underway for crew member Molly’s Birthday. We will tell you all about it tomorrow.