We're writing to you in the wake of chaos. It's been a busy couple of days. Two days ago we had a truly disastrous dropping of the spinnaker - again! But this time we paid a serious price when the spinnaker pole got
bent 90 degrees, almost snapping in half. It was heart breaking as now we're reduce to only two possible head sails, the genoa & assymetric. From there things seemed on a downhill spiral; we lost another spinnaker sheet
& almost lost the all important spinnaker halyard (the rope that pulls the spinnakers & the assymetric up the mast) were it not for Murray's brave trip up the mast in 20 knot winds during which he managed to fix the spinnaker halyard block. The swell was at least 8 metres while Murray was clinging to the top of the mast, no surprise he brought up his breakfast 15 metres above the boat! His closing comment was still "the view is
spectacular up here." The most worrying aspect of it all was still our engine which cut out on us again yesterday. Without our engine we cant charge batteries or make water which would quickly turn the trip into a survival challenge. Hence the euphoric mood when skipper "Diesel Derek" got it running again this morning; everyone had a quick shower & filled the water stores & things are looking much better! The crew morale is back on top.
The sailing is also going remarkably well. Averaging about 7 or 8 knots, we've been doing well over our hoped 175miles/day & reached a total of 747miles today at 12:00. We're erring on the North side of things, to avoid getting stuck in a high without spinnakers! But otherwise the race continues - to Rio!
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