Hi from the weather rail of Rambler. We've been watching a sail on the horizon creep up on us over the past 5 hours - we are on the race's longest (145 mile) leg and its a fast jib reach. The boat coming up from behind is of course, Hetairos, the giant ketch. This is a leg perfectly suited to her strength.. straight line reaching speed. Its only a matter of a few hours and she'll be past us unless things get tricky... which appears unlikely until our next turning mark - Guadeloupe, one of the trickiest parts of this race track.. as we sail below (downwind) of the biggest and tallest island on the course. Last year on Rambler100 - we drifted for a few hours in Guadeloupe's wind shadow and that sort of tricky sailing might give us a chance to make some gains on Hetairos... time will tell.
Beautiful sailing on deck.. t shirt - shorts and everyone but the helmsman grinders and trimmers hiking out.. Lots of flying fish going aerial to get away from our bow wave. It's plenty hot down below though...as most hatches are shut to keep spray from coming in. we just enjoyed our first freeze dried meal.. a beef stew that was popular amongst the crew. The watch system is being strictly adhered to now - no sail changes in the last few hours so hopefully everyone will be charged up for the battle under Guadeloupe and the rest of the race.
We've seen much shiftier and lighter winds than last year when the Rambler100 set the monohull course record... that record is definitely secure until 2013 at the earliest
