As bad the day before was, so good was yesterday. In the early afternoon, we wiggled ourselves in the lead. A big call had to be made to go either inside or outside a group of islands, and since the sky was clear, we opted to stay inshore, as most likely we would keep more pressure.
A very good call as Ericsson 4 opted to go outside and they paid heavily for that decision. They went from a comfortable first place to fourth, that must have hurt. From then on, we more or less stayed all the same until dawn was breaking.
Ericsson 3 was always within half a mile of us, and the other two a couple more behind. Then, at dawn, we had a huge park up again for a couple of hours, and our lead vanished, as a northerly breeze brought the other boats close to us. We were sailing under spinnaker and we were neck and neck with Ericsson 3. They passed us once, but then we passed them again. We had navigate through an area of shoals, so tricky for the navigators, not to let us run aground.
Then we got involved in an incident with Ericsson 3. We were both on opposite tacks, and we had the right of way. It resulted in us protesting Ericsson 3. I won't go into detail what exactly happened, so that I don't influence the international jury. The good news is that we got the entire incident on video tape.
From then on, we led until the early hours, all four boats within 1.5 miles, as if we were attached with a string, but then we parked up again. It was touch and go, if we had to anchor, as there was a strong current against us. It resulted in Puma and Ericsson 4 anchoring. We kept a whisker of breeze 2-3 knots and since we were still making slow progress, we separated together with Ericsson 3 from the other two.
I wasn't very happy with what happened, as we ended up going offshore, without actually making distance to the finish. And yes, the other two started moving again, and made huge gains. I didn't want to put all the eggs in one basket, and said to the guys, we have to bite the bullet and take their sterns, as we have seen a lot of things can happen in no time. Then we picked up a couple of nice shifts and all of sudden, we find ourselves again in the lead. Happy we didn't stay offshore!
So, hopefully, by tomorrow we are finished. Prediction on the result? What about this suggestion: we could as well decide with the other three skippers to throw the dice on who is going to win. So much for my prediction who is going to win.
Cheers,
Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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