Ericsson 3 speeding along to Marstrand. Image copyright Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3.
by Gustav Morin
New helmsman and stacking fiesta
”We are just about to start going backwards! Let’s make the anchor ready.” Richard Mason and Jens Dolmer run down below to cut the seals for the anchorline and the anchor and starts to drag them up on deck.
The wind has dropped to around five knots and the current is around 3.5 and supposingly about to get even stronger.
”If we go closer to shore at this stage we might get as much as six knots of current straight on the nose, but most likely more wind. If we go out the wind will less drop but so will the current. It’s a ’damned if you do, damned if you don’t-situation’, says Richard Mason.
Luckily, we got some wind back and never had to throw the anchor. We managed to stay in the same position as before we stopped and we have now been finetuning all morning, doing all we can to keep PUMA and Ericsson 4 behind us.
We have seen them clearly for a long time now and we can all the time see if we are gaining or losing.
We are going upwind along the French coast and we are quite quickly getting closer to the tight end of the channel, which means we can look forward to a bit of a tacking and stacking fiesta!
Earlier, we got some help with the helming. A bird sat down on the wheel for a couple of minutes and he also tried some trimming on top of the main winch. He had a tag around his ankles with S26390 written on it, maybe someone knows where he belongs?
Ericsson 4 and PUMA have justed tacked behind us and we are about to do the same. Need to pack my stuff and move it to windward.
Volvo Ocean Race
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