Position: 1st
“The Fastnet Rock was a night rounding, but still incredible to see. It’s typically raining around the SE of Ireland, and funnily enough today was no exception. However, as it was very light winds it made our passage past this monument quite special. We ended up sailing the closest I have ever sailed to the lighthouse, and it was incredible to look up and see it towering above…
“We were hot on our heels around the lighthouse, and currently we are reaching back in the direction of the Scillies. Both Carac and Aina are fast in these reaching conditions, but Aina is posing the biggest problem to us, steadily eating away at our margin since the Fastnet.
“I am dreading tonight… the conditions are going extremely light and variable and it could be that we have a park-up similar to what happened in the Solent, or like the first night in the Channel, where one boat randomly gets wind and the other doesn’t. We are trying to bank some sleep today so we can focus our attention on this next weather transition zone tonight, and work on how we can come out first, or at least near the front…
“Life on board with Julien is very upbeat and we have had quite a few laughs, despite the tension and pressure of keeping these new boats behind us. We were just joking about how in the world of short-handed sailing, you are always basically in a hurry to get to sleep as quickly as possible as you know you only have 30 mins or 1 hour to break – and this stress is highly counter-productive!
“For breakfast today I had a most fine porridge, however, Julien opted instead to go for freeze dried mash potato (eh?).
“Time to go and find some more boat speed! Phil”
