It is sunny here. The night was good. We had a squall at 4 am and a wipeout. I was sleeping but jumped up and sorted it out. I saw 34 knots, so I was a little surprised we rounded up with the code 5 up, but maybe it was a wave.

I gybed a little while after that. I did a check before gybing and realized that the spinnaker tack line had freed itself at the bow and then around the sprit and code 5 furling line and down to the bobstay at the water. It was a firehouse up there as I sorted it out with the boat hook for about half an hour. Yuk! Otherwise, the gybe and stacking went well. Wow, it takes a while on your own.

We crossed a Hanse 588 the morning on this way to the Caribbean and had a nice chat.

The solar panels are working well during the day, and I use the engine for half an hour a bit after sunrise to lure the fuel cell into shutting down. The combination is working well as I have a lot of flexibility on when to use the engine.

Breakfast this morning was a mountain house southwestern breakfast hash that had survived all these years. It was a treat, in a relative sense. I double-checked the expiration date and found it to be 2047!

It has been a wonderfully unexciting day here.  Parts have had winds in the low 20s, others in the upper 20s.  The seas have not built as much as I might have expected given the winds so while there is a bit of surfing, it isn’t rough.  The boat is loud, however, with the singing hum of speed.  The sun was out all day, and it is delightfully warm. 

The code 5/mule is working well.  I tried the staysail inside, but it destabilized the mule too much and didn’t seem faster on average.  Otherwise, there are the usual boat checks and a few small tweaks here and there. 

Fun and fast sailing. 

Today was a day for making miles and we did a good job of that for most of the day under the fractional spinnaker.  In the evening, there were squalls, but none really strong or out of the wind range for the spinnaker.  The radar tracks them well.  Still, the tack decided it wanted a separation from the body of the spinnaker.  Of course, with the sail not connected at the tack, it spun around the sock down lines and thus wanted the extra attention of a traditional takedown.  With that sorted, we are back to making good miles with the Code 5, aka the mule.  Here's hoping the trade winds stay strong.

So, two nights ago, when setting the A2 (spinnaker), the tack zipper didn’t open. It ripped the sail from just about the tack to about 10′ high. I spent most of Friday sewing it. It went back up Friday night. I was really happy with the repair.

It held all night and into the morning. Then, this morning there was a bit of a squall and a little wipeout. Nothing really notable on the scale of things. However, the halyard broke at the clutch and the whole sail ended up under the boat with lines everywhere. Two hours later, I had it onboard in 6 pieces. I was lucky not to damage the rudders or anything else. It took another while to clean up the mess and recover a bit.

Then, to add a bit more adventure, when hoisting the fractional spin, the 2 to 1 halyard spun, twisted, and knotted itself. It wouldn’t come down. Fortunately it was just a few feet over the radar dome when I noticed it, but I got to do my first solo mast climb. The frac spin is up now and it is the right sail.

The brochure didn’t say it would be easy…

The wind is in the low 20s and we are making fast miles to Guadeloupe. It is loud down below. All is well on Kite.

Tonight is the first truly starry sky of the passage.  On our port side, in the evening, Orion watches over us as an old friend from many other winter passages.  There is still no moon up, so it really is spectacular.

The start of the second week of the race was a clement day.  The seas are relatively flat and the wind between 12 and 18 knots which means adjustments to ballast, but no sail changes.  Tomorrow we should be able to ease the sheets and sail off the wind.  That will be a nice and welcome change!

The French cheese on board is holding up fine as is the chocolate supply.  The main meals of freeze dried food leave a bit to be desired, but we will fix that in Guadeloupe. 

Hi, all is well on board Kite.  We came through the last front with only small issues and now we have sunshine and 15-17kts… Upwind!  On the exciting front, we may tack tomorrow afternoon.  In all seriousness, it is nice to have a break from the changing conditions of the fronts.  At times it was pretty full on.   With the reefs in the main, I had to use the dinghy bailer to bail the water out of the main. 

The goal in these fronts has been to preserve the boat and me and I think we did that well.  Now all we need is some extra sleep and food.

The smoother seas this morning meant eggs for breakfast.  I’ve also had a bit of a clean up down below.   No doubt I will have time later to conjure up a bit of magic from the bag of freeze dried food for a delightful dinner. 

I tacked a few mins ago (noon UTC) to head west.  It is time to push through this front.  My southerly position should mitigate the strength a bit and if all goes well, I will be through it this evening. 

We are south of 39N and so on the latitude of Annapolis.  That feels like a milestone of sorts.  Yesterday and today have been really recuperative.  I hope this afternoon continues along those lines.  There is still quite a bit to do, but there is less that needs doing at the same time urgently. 

There has even been a little sun in the last hour and the water temperature is up to 19.3. 

Today was a recovery/catch up day with winds letting us push steadily south before the next weather system on Monday.  There was a lot of computer time. Kite had a good look over. Three proper meals were eaten for the first time of the race and there was some real sleep.  I even managed a few podcasts. 

The sun was out for a lot of the day, and the solar panels were doing their magic.  All is well here.  We’ll be glad to get past the next heavy weather tomorrow and point the bow at Guadeloupe.   

The shift is starting.  Wind at 210 now and nicely down to around 20kts.  Life is a bit more comfortable.  Back to one reef in the main and to 100-105% of polars.  I should eat dinner, but nothing strikes my fancy.  I’m waiting for the rest of the shift in a few hours and then will tack.  It is nice to make more miles directly south. This start hasn’t been cold as expected.  RBI was colder.  The water is now 17.8 C. 

All ok here.   I was sitting down to a delightful, freeze-dried meal when the wind went to 25-33.  It was due for 24 tonight.  Oh well.  I dropped the traveler and waited for 30 minutes, and it stuck around.  It took over an hour going to the 2nd reef.  The new main is just a bit different, and I hadn’t set up the first reef right for the second to go in right.  After maybe 10 round trips to the mast, they are both in right. Of course, then the wind went to 19.  It didn’t stay there long.  It is back to upper 20s, and I am all set.  We have the first part of the shift (backing) and so are headed more westerly which should punch us through this front more quickly than headed SW as we were. Hope you are having a wonderful day out there.