Miss Malin logbook - December 4, 2013

Yesterday afternoon we sail on with the gennaker in 30 knots of wind. The big boat with its 20 tons surfs like a dinghy on the waves. A new speed record is set at 16.5 knots. It goes fast. Before sailing away from Las Palmas, we decided on board the boat to have three priorities for the trip. The first and most important was Safety, the second most important was Pleasure and the third priority was Winning. For a good night's sleep and not to risk anything in case of further wind, we took down the gennaker for the night. It felt like the boat stopped when we now "only" made 8-9 knots instead of 11-12. We note when the sun goes down that it is almost two hours later than in Las Palmas. In the morning in Las Palmas the sun rose at 06:30, now it rises at 08:30.

We have sailed through a couple of time zones, but have decided not to change the clock until we arrive in St. Lucia. 00:00. Anders and I are sitting on our midnight pass when I feel something hit my leg. Almost as if someone had thrown a tennis ball at me. In the black night, we turn on our flashlights and wonder what's going on. It is a flying fish that has attacked me. We laugh and push the poor fish back into the sea. Strange about fish with wings. 08:00 The morning begins to dawn and Martin is awake even though his shift is already over. He drums with his fingers and thinks it's slow going. With a headlamp, he has already prepared all the tamps to be able to hoist the gennaker when the light comes. The sun has not even gone over the horizon when we hoist, the sail takes hold of the boat and we sail on at 10-12 knots. 10:00 Our position is N21°02.384, W42°06.148, we sail at 11 knots SOG on a course of 290 degrees.

There are 1201 nautical miles left to St. Lucia. It goes fast now that the gennaker is up and we have a tailwind. 14:00 Anders has packed a lot of strange things in his suitcase. Yesterday it was Christmas tinsel. Today, when he makes pancakes with ice cream for lunch, he serves them in a chef's uniform. The rest of us are laughing and the mood in the sun is great. 19:00 Now there are only 1090 nautical miles left. An average during the day of about 12 knots. It goes fast. With best regards, Einar Halldin moresailing.se at 19:00 UTC on December 4, 2013.