Monika Skydancer
Tropical skies
That's us 16 days into the race now. Still chasing that storm SE. It's now interacting with a bigger storm to the south of it & another weather system off the Cape of Good Hope, so for the next couple days there's gonna be bars of windier & calmer weather sweeping over the front half of the fleet. That's gonna mean some frustrating moments when the wind drops, but I'm hoping by Friday I'll have been able to make a short leg to the south & gotten myself into a bigger, more stable band of strong winds that will take me straight through the gate in the storm's wake.
Right now it's still 17kt winds but the sea is getting up more. I pushed up to 7th place yesterday but fell back to 10th overnight. Now I'm 9th again & slowly catching back up. This is so different from racing in SL. My Snipe & Mini Transat races usually last around a half hour & there's lots of turns & sail handling. This one, I been reaching SE on port tack under full sail for 4 days now. Getting more speed is all about choosing a course to stay with the wind, & keeping the sails trimmed.
And yeah, the sky don't look too tropical, but I am technically still in the tropics. I'm at 22° 43' 9" S right now & the Tropic of Capricorn is at 23° 26' 10" S. I'll be out of the tropic zone soon but it's the southern summer so days will get longer.
Tropical skies
That's us 16 days into the race now. Still chasing that storm SE. It's now interacting with a bigger storm to the south of it & another weather system off the Cape of Good Hope, so for the next couple days there's gonna be bars of windier & calmer weather sweeping over the front half of the fleet. That's gonna mean some frustrating moments when the wind drops, but I'm hoping by Friday I'll have been able to make a short leg to the south & gotten myself into a bigger, more stable band of strong winds that will take me straight through the gate in the storm's wake.
Right now it's still 17kt winds but the sea is getting up more. I pushed up to 7th place yesterday but fell back to 10th overnight. Now I'm 9th again & slowly catching back up. This is so different from racing in SL. My Snipe & Mini Transat races usually last around a half hour & there's lots of turns & sail handling. This one, I been reaching SE on port tack under full sail for 4 days now. Getting more speed is all about choosing a course to stay with the wind, & keeping the sails trimmed.
And yeah, the sky don't look too tropical, but I am technically still in the tropics. I'm at 22° 43' 9" S right now & the Tropic of Capricorn is at 23° 26' 10" S. I'll be out of the tropic zone soon but it's the southern summer so days will get longer.