Wednesday, 30 May 2012 | by ADOR
The barometer is climbing fast and steadily as we sail out of the frontal line that has given us speed for the past three days. From here, the breeze will moderate along with the sea state and we will begin to feel the effects of the high-pressure ridge in about 200 miles time. Forecasts are showing that the ridge could produce at least 12+ hours off near drifting conditions until we are able to pop through the other side into the northerlies. I imagine this will be a mind-bending experience as we either watch our lead extend or slip away.
In the last hour the breeze has dropped and headed slightly. During the watch change we peeled from the G1 to the fractional zero and are now sailing a slightly lower and faster course. The latest scheds are still showing that the boats furthest back are making the bigger gains on us, which really only proves how fast we are sailing out of this front. Fortunately, we have managed to keep the angry kitty (Puma) at bay and still hold a small buffer zone of 30+ miles.
The fire in team morale still burns strong. Jules and Ian have been non-stop with performance analysis and weather updates. Since we are being chased by what feels like a pack of dogs (and one cat), the general theme has been to sail the fastest angle possible. So the boys have been really pushing Azzam for the 36 hours. Hopefully it will have been enough to give us an advantage when we hit the ridge off Portugal.
date: Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:48:49 (Arabian Standard Time, UTC+04:00)
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