40 degrees update

Miranda Merron emails about the first two days of racing

Miranda Merron updates us from the Class 40 40 Degrees. Since these updates they rounded the Fastnet Rock at 11:30 this morning and have now set off at a rate of knots across the Celtic Sea back towards Bishops Rock:

Tuesday 14th August 2007

Well, we had a heinous night - black night, rain, nasty sea, and lots of wind. We had three reefs and the storm jib for much of the latter part of the night. Unfortunately didn't manage to make Lizard before the SW shift, so lost some ground there. Now we are trucking along in sunshine and 20-25 knots, lots of water over the deck. However, tonight we will be treated to a low pressure system, big shift to the NW before we get to Fastnet, and lots of wind, cross-sea, rain etc. Once we get round the Rock, we should have a decent ride to Plymouth. We have heard that a lot of boats have retired, and when we are getting our second spanking in a few hours, we will no doubt be envious of those safely in port! We are sampling our new freeze-dried and the chicken tikka and korma have been approved by the first tasting commission.

That's all from 40 Degrees. Miranda

Wednesday 15th August 2007

Unbelievably we have some sunshine and reasonably flat seas after another few hours under storm jib and 3 reefs - this time though Fraser [Brown] suggested going to storm jib before the wind hit (we knew it was imminent with the huge shift to the north west). The waves were still from the southwest, so really bumpy. Don't know if anyone got much sleep. We are about 12 miles from the Fastnet Rock, which is of course dead upwind!! We are all looking forward to getting round and putting the spinnaker up and heading downwind. We might even tidy the inside of the boat, which has kit everywhere after 2 days of wet, bouncy sailing.

X Miranda