Good afternoon from the deck of Sophie B. Today’s mood is somewhat better as we discover Sophie B’s other assets (other than the ability to sail very fast with a symmetrical spinnaker in front of her).

Petri has been hard at work on the foredeck, drilling and taping the spinnaker pole back together using other bits of less useful equipment as stand-in parts. The pole still looks a bit bent overall, and probably won’t be used except to pole out a genoa, or some very light spinnaker work.

We are currently sailing at 9.3 knots (as I looked up, the speed over ground was exactly that) with an asymmetrical spinnaker hoisted forward. Although designed for closer to the wind sailing and despite the fact that wind is bearing 150 degrees off our port bow, the speed of the boat through the reasonably calm waters of the Atlantic, makes the apparent wind move forward and that sail is flying beautifully. Ok, enough jargon and apologies to those who don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

The water is so clear and blue out here, and we have not seen sight of any other signs of people since we saw saw a large  ship on the horizon a few days back, but we have not totally forsaken the comforts of land. Prego rolls for brunch and chili con carne for dinner accompanied by a glass of red is on the menu for today, as we try to finish off our fresh meat before we start scratching below the floor boards for rusty tins of “whatever may be in there with pasta”.

I did spot a fillet and bottle of champagne which are presumably part of our New Year’s Eve fare. I wonder what else the skipper has planned. Here’s to Sophie B entering the new year closest to Rio of all the fleet. Of that there is a good chance.