Alpaire Day 4

Another good run yesterday, 180 miles, noon to noon. The max wind speed was circa 27 knots during the night. We had rain showers until about 4 am, but no real wind gusts. He had rolled the main because of the gusts we experienced the night before. We set it again at 5 am because the rain showers had died out and it looked as if we were unlikely to get any strong gusts. That proved to be the right call. We gybed a few times to maximise our VMG (velocity made good towards St Lucia).

The full moon came up shortly after dusk. It was a beautiful sight, slightly orange in colour, occasionally covered by cloud. Eventually the sky filled with cloud but the moonlight was strong enough to give good visibility. We are wearing long sleeves and a waterproof jacket on watch at night. The temperature is very pleasant, about 22 degrees.

The remaining cloud burned off this morning and we had a beautiful day. Wind is a bit less at 12 to 17 knots from slightly North of East. The dolphins made an early appearance. We are getting very interesting weather information. The stronger winds are on the more Northerly route. That is expected to change in a few days and the routing software says we should all then gybe onto port and head South quickly to find stronger winds later. The timing will be critical. Too late and we will be left behind in 6 to 8 knots. We notice on the daily email of boat positions that the boats in the racing class are implementing that strategy.

This afternoon the sky clouded over and it is fairly humid. We can expect rain and perhaps squalls into the night.

Can anybody identify a white bird a little smaller than a seagull but black and white underneath with a long thin tail like a spear and pointed wing tips like a tern? Des thinks it is a frigate bird?

Ria advised us that "Bjorn used to make the lures - he would make a squid from the finger of an old kitchen glove. It had to be a yellow glove. With yellow squids we caught tuna, wahoo, spanish mackeral, dorado. Any other colour, we caught nothing. The right speed is important. At 8 knots you might be sailing too fast. We tended to catch fish at 5.5 to 6.5 knots." Thanks Ria your email arrived just in time, and provided another set of excuses for Sam and Des. Immediately Sam sprang into action. Des did not want to sacrifice a rubber glove even though as Richard says we would have ten lures, if we pretended that they were one armed squids. The compromise was bits from a yellow shopping bag. I think that we should have saved the bag for the next time we get back to El Corte Ingles! We also managed to get our speed right when the wind dropped at lunch time. Perhaps feeding time for the wahoos is different than for the crew.

Tell Margaret that we are looking forward to her chicken dinner tonight.

Find below an update of the ARC fleet today:

Magarite: diverting to Cape Verde to fix vang and boom.

Calypso: taking on water through their transom door. Sailing south to calmer waters to assess and make repairs.

Duffy: Dismasted this morning following a strong gust and broach. All crew and the boats watertight integrity are ok. Yacht 'Marlene F' assisted with the transfer of 180 litres of diesel. Duffy are now motoring to El Hierro with emergency VHF antenna in use. YB Tracking increased to positions every hour and the coastguard have been informed. No further assistance required at this time.

Mark and Ria thanks for the emails. I (Finn) was a bit too cautious about the use of our credit. Emails are great from family and friends. We timed the text only ones, ie no attachments, and they send receive very quickly, so unlikely to cost much.

All well here and the best to everybody at home.