<\/p>\n
It looks like 2012 started just like 2011 had finished, with a big mess,
\nanother spinnaker blown and trashed in the water, this time the masthead
\nA2 spinnaker, the biggest one… somewhere somehow there was a weak point
\nas it finally blew in mild 18-20 knots conditions, went overboard and gave
\nus a horrible time in trying to retrieve it… we did in the end, badly
\ntrashed, torn in two parts…<\/p>\n
During leg one we had kept the bastard up in 30 knots gusting 35 when we
\nestablished our best 24 hours run, for some reason the wear and tear of
\nmaterials is starting to show now, after 15,000 miles of hard core ocean
\nracing…<\/p>\n
We still played our cards well it seems, despite the 45 minutes spent
\ntrailing the kite in the water, we managed to get going again, the wind
\nbuilt further within an hour so we kept good speed and are now only 46
\nmiles behind Campagne de France… we will not overtake them, that’s
\nimpossible as now we will be sailing within the confines of Cook Strait
\nwith just 135 miles to the finish line, so in percentage terms we’d have
\nto sail 50% faster, which is clearly impossible once within the same wind
\nzone, but we feel good about the 700 miles we have shaven off their lead,
\nthey must have felt nervous in the past few hours, before finding some
\nwind again and coming unstuck from the lee of Cape Farewell…<\/p>\n
Anyone who’s raced knows there’s nothing you can do about the red mist,
\neven after 30+ days at sea the desire to overtake a boat ahead of you is
\noverwhelming, it’s a lion watching a gazelle in the savannah… so, we may
\nhave yet another bill to foot, but we’ll know we havent held back, we
\nclosed a gap of 750 miles to under 50 and feel honoured to be so close to
\nexperienced sailors such as Miranda and Halvard who sail on a brand new
\nlast generation boat whilst we whip this old fashioned lady as hard as we
\nthink she can take it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, back to the opera house for the last few miles, the show isn’t
\nover until the fat lady sings, really really looking forward to be safely
\nmored in Queen’s Wharf, Wellington, New Zealand.<\/p>\n