Sailing : TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY TWO QFB

received 14.12.08 1311 GMT

It's been exciting racing so far in leg 3 despite it being all in slow motion at times due to the light winds off the coast. The usual anxiety and anticipation of having to wait for each sched every three hours has been absent so far - because we have been able to see each other for most of the time!

We have had a really good battle down the coast of India and now we are once more out in the open ocean heading for the first of our waypoints near Sri Lanka. Our passage down the coast was nice and smooth, not too many fishing boats or nets to contend with and the ones we did meet only needed a friendly wave as opposed to drastic evasive action. I am hoping we will be able to tell a similar story in the Strait of Malacca although I'm not going to be counting any chickens just yet! We did however have some wrangling with the Cochin weed early on the race but luckily came out not too badly scathed from the whole ordeal. Some nimble action with the weed stick from Daryl (Daryl Wislang/NZL) and Pepe Ribes/ESP) and without too much delay we were back up to race pace again.

We are now clear of the Indian coast and heading to the first of our Sri Lankan waypoints and, to be honest, it feels good to be back racing in the open ocean. For sure, the sunshine and 28 degree sea temperature is helping, it is wet on deck right now but it doesn't really matter and very pleasant compared with the sweltering temperatures down below which have been well up in the high 30's! It is a close call whether it is wetter on deck from the spray or downstairs from the sweat!

Despite the close racing, all in all things have been pretty relaxed so far, no doubt a result of having a good stopover in India, everyone has come back happy and refreshed. Hopefully we can keep this tempo up over the next few days. Tonight will no doubt be getting busy again as the wind drops and the fleet compresses once more but with everyone thriving on the competition right now, we are happy to bring it on!

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - navigator