CUTTER RIGS & CREW APPRECIATION

2121 UTC | 12 53.89’N, 089 33.34’W

Sailing

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Hello from a currently very speedy FALKEN!

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After spending the night enthusiastically getting the sails out whenever we felt a whiff of a breeze, then efficiently furling them away again as it quickly died off, it is a joy to have some consistent breeze this afternoon.

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At the moment we have the full cutter rig out; Yankee and staysail, and are happily scooting along at 7–9 knots and occasionally into the 10s! This is despite some fairly large swell, which must be the remnants from the Papagayo winds. It makes us glad to have chosen a more northern passage to avoid the worst of them, and set ourselves up for a nice reach across them on our final night at sea.

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On the topic of lovely, efficient sailing, I must give a shout out to Marella and Christine. They make up our 2 (wo)man watch, so are down a person comparatively. They’re also on deck whenever I first come on watch and inevitably decide it is ludicrous to have the engine on in 4 knots of breeze. So we must get out all the sails and spend hours fastidiously trying to go in the right direction. They have done this with no complaint and are so competent, I’m fairly sure I’m just along for the ride nowadays. I was actually asked by Jakes to give this shout out, but it is long overdue.

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In other news, we’ve broken the booby record — we got 8 on the bow this morning! Having hoisted the staysail, it seems we have been cooking up some squid jerky on the foredeck. No one’s opted to give it a taste yet, but we will keep you updated.

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Lloyd’s been studying the star books, whilst Delaney’s been reducing and plotting her sights from this morning. We had the whiteboard out to chat about sail choices/trim (how serendipitous the weather then allowed for the cutter rig) and different keels.

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After a brief conversation about the Palmyra murders (give it a Google!), Robert’s clearly been dwelling on them, as he told me today he was writing a letter in case of him disappearing. Hopefully that doesn’t say anything about his opinion on his fellow crew.

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Other animal sightings today: porpoises feeding, jumping rays, turtles, and a marlin leaping. We’ve talked about fishing again, but currently we’re going too fast, and after yesterday’s showers no one’s particularly keen to volunteer to butcher the fish.

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I believe this may be my last blog, so as people love a bit of public recognition:

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I think this might have been one of my more challenging trips in recent years. Possible fuel stops, frustrating light winds, straight into gale-force winds and very rough seas. It’s not been the most straightforward, and I think the crew deserve credit for accepting that this is sailing, and being so understanding and tolerant. They’ve not stopped believing me when I’ve said the wind’s supposed to fill in within the hour — for about 5 hours straight — and they’re just enjoying the ride!

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// Mary