received 19.12.08 1036 GMT
Grrrr, we haven't been able to hold of Ericsson 4, who always had earlier lifted breeze than we had. This has given them a more favourable angle to sail in...And go faster than us. We did two short tacks last nights, when there where small windshifts, which brought us more directly in front of Ericsson 3 and Puma. We are baking very small cookies right now, no time for big moves. We will try to consolidate our second place to the scoring waypoint, which is still an ok result. But we are not there yet, so nothing guaranteed yet.
For some reason the inside of our boat has become very dirty. It looks like black dust has landed on top of us. Maybe it is a sign we are reaching the normal polluted world again.
Talking about pollution, Gabri Olivo (MCM) is still doing all the compulsory samples of the ocean water. This he does every third day. He is having a little laboratory, with all little fiddly pipettes, strainers and small pots.
I always have to smile when is doing that job, as he is totally dedicated, I would have made shortcuts for sure, if it had been my job. It is not an easy task in these bouncy conditions to do this, especially since we have a low cockpit, so he has to take all this measurements half lying down, wearing rubber gloves and watching that the sweat, which is pouring off him, doesn't contaminate the samples. It would be nice to see some results of all the work he has done, and to see which ocean is the cleanest.
It is good news to hear that our friends on Delta Lloyd are making good head way again; they just have to nurse their puppy in.
Cheers,
Bouwe Bekking - skipper
No comments:
Post a Comment