However, as the current weather system passes through, the veering wind should favour those closest inshore and Aquelina could make some gains prior to rounding the rock. That said, the crew of Galway Harbour haven't done much wrong so far and will be well aware of what they have to do to stay ahead.
While Pride of Dalkey Fuji looks set to take line honours, the battle is really on between Galway Harbour and Aquelina, with Dinah, Jedi and Orna fighting it out for the minor placings and Raging Bull losing our from her more offshore position.
History has shown that the race has sometimes been won and lost in the stretch between the Fastnet and Dingle and with the center of the system tracking just west of Dingle right now, an upset is a distinct possiblility.
From Brian Carlin onboard the Sigma 400, Raging Bull.
Location: 30 miles South East of The Fastnet
Time: 13:30
Right, not sure where to start, well we rounded Tuscar Rock at 10:30pm in a building sea, the 3G coverage disappeared and well after last night this has been my first opportunity to write anything.
A beautiful sunset started the evening but that was all that was nice about it. Grey dark clouds greeted out first night at sea, and it got cold on deck, sitting as the spray increasingly came across the decks.
Let's just say alot of the crew went quite and the great banter we had all day soon became a game of who was first to bed for some sleep and a dry area to stay..
It was 3am before I got below decks and our plan was to head south early while the winds allowed before the southerly direction forecast came into play.. it was a rough night with little sleep, main sail reefs in and then back out again trying to deal with the ever changing wind speed, which topped out at 26kts later that night, gusting 29knts.
When the morning broke I was back on deck, decision to say south was the plan, make the Fastnet lighthouse in one tack rather than beat up the coast, now we still don't know if this plan is going to pay, so we have an anxious wait until the rock to see if it worked.
We had the kite up for a while clocking speeds of 12knts , but a 2 foot tear in the mainsail slowed us up for 25mins as we repaired it.. It's fixed but not sure how long it will take this constant 20 knots right now...
Right I'm off to find some food as alot are taking the next couple of hours to rest before we make the big push north towards the Skelligs..
