Day 3 began with another amazing sunrise. The beautiful day quickly
turned against as the calm seas and light wind had us drifting along.
The impact of this weather really registered for the crew as we sat for
ten minutes and gained no ground on the orange peels that were tossed
aside. But sure enough, with some good strategy, many sail changes and
bit of luck we soon found ourselves back in the steady winds we have
grown accustomed to during the race this year. In what seemed like no
time, we went from barely moving, to cruising through some heavey
swells.
But as the evening ended, so did the wind and we once again found ourselves struggling to find our own wind out there in the darkness. The entire fleet on the Western side faced the same somber outlook. Note, Captains comment - "Crew's work has been exceptional, willing to do whatever necessary to make the boat go fast." To illustrate that point, our strategy went as follows: down with the HV1 and up with the LT1, next up with the Genoa Staysail, down with the LT1, up with the 1AS, down with the 1AS, up with the LT1, down with the LT1 and up with the AS. We did this to get ourselves in a better position for our final run to Bermuda. All of this happened in the space of four hours. And right now we are flying the 1AS almost like an upwind sail. This was necessary to sail through the windlines and around the windholes.
We experienced some difficulty in tracking the race online from our satellite phone, but were able to see some of the status. It seems we had moved near the head of the main back on the western approach and the crew now knew that we had managed to stay in the hunt. We knew that with the right moves, and again the right amount of luck, we could do quite well in the race. The trials of the day left us feeling more confident in everything, from the skipper to the watch captains to our fellow crew members and of course to Cygne.
So as evening ended, we looked aound at the star filled night and could see the milky way as if we were looking through a telescope. The big dipper seemed to be chasing us when we finally made a daring decision to tack further West, away from the other boats languishing in dead air. This was the moment when Cygne made her move.
Tomorrow will bring us one day closer to our goal. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Joe Romanelli
Scribe
PS: Erika saved the day again with a delicious pasta dish with meatballs. Thanks from the crew!
But as the evening ended, so did the wind and we once again found ourselves struggling to find our own wind out there in the darkness. The entire fleet on the Western side faced the same somber outlook. Note, Captains comment - "Crew's work has been exceptional, willing to do whatever necessary to make the boat go fast." To illustrate that point, our strategy went as follows: down with the HV1 and up with the LT1, next up with the Genoa Staysail, down with the LT1, up with the 1AS, down with the 1AS, up with the LT1, down with the LT1 and up with the AS. We did this to get ourselves in a better position for our final run to Bermuda. All of this happened in the space of four hours. And right now we are flying the 1AS almost like an upwind sail. This was necessary to sail through the windlines and around the windholes.
We experienced some difficulty in tracking the race online from our satellite phone, but were able to see some of the status. It seems we had moved near the head of the main back on the western approach and the crew now knew that we had managed to stay in the hunt. We knew that with the right moves, and again the right amount of luck, we could do quite well in the race. The trials of the day left us feeling more confident in everything, from the skipper to the watch captains to our fellow crew members and of course to Cygne.
So as evening ended, we looked aound at the star filled night and could see the milky way as if we were looking through a telescope. The big dipper seemed to be chasing us when we finally made a daring decision to tack further West, away from the other boats languishing in dead air. This was the moment when Cygne made her move.
Tomorrow will bring us one day closer to our goal. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Joe Romanelli
Scribe
PS: Erika saved the day again with a delicious pasta dish with meatballs. Thanks from the crew!
Copyright 2006 Cygne
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