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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sailing : ERICSSON 3 LEG THREE DAY 4 QFB

received 16.12.08 0932 GMT
“How big chance is it to get two black and then one red in roulette?” “What is the average speed if you go 50 km/h to Gothenburg from Stockholm and then back in 100 km/h?”
You can tell when Magnus Olsson is bored. Or, at least, restless.
He comes up with all kinds of questions and smiles while waiting for an answer. If you for once answer correctly, you can be sure that he comes back with another one that you can’t answer.
Talking about roulette, that is a bit how this leg feels. Easy to say when you are behind, I know, but I do think it is a bit is about luck. Yet we haven’t been lucky and we haven’t sailed very well.
Last night we were working hard with stacking and trying to tack with the shifts, but it hasn’t paid off. The last scheds has not been very good, probably because the boats in front got out from the current before us. It has been quite extreme ever since we passed the first waypoint, more than 36 hours ago. It peaked at 3.5 knots in our nose!
But I think that we are in the groove now. We have come out of the current and are sailing in 10 knots of fairly steady breeze, doing 12 knots of boatspeed. I hope that it is our turn to use the ‘bungee-effect’, that the others stop in lighter air and we get the chance to catch up and get a restart.
Gustav Morin - MCM

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