© Sam Davies
Hello from Roxy in the S Irish Sea!
After a small technical problem with a furler at the start, I didn't get the best of starts, which was really disappointing. It could have been worse though - luckily I managed to deal with and fix the problem quickly without having to drop the Code 0. It was a light winds start, and after Eddystone we were almost becalmed for a while - see my photo of Cervin!
I managed to catch up some distance on the others which re-boosted my morale!
The evening was great, albeit hard work with lots of changing sails and sail trim, as the wind was very unstable at each headland.
It is nice to get back into solo offshore racing mode for the first time this year, although it is taking a while to remember exactly the best way to do each manouver. I am definitely a bit "rusty" and I am very grateful for these gentle conditions!
Last night we sailed through a thick fog bank for most of the night.
That is where I discovered a problem with my radar, which is very disconcerting, given the route for this race. I have narrowed the problem down to a short-circuit in the radome (I think) which is going to be tricky to fix (if it is fix-able).
In the meantimme, I have my active-echo and AIS, which both work well for shipping. I will just have to be extremely careful if we have any un-planned ice.
Otherwise, all is very well. Roxy is currently rocketing along under spinnaker, full main + staysail and I am trying to get some rest. I have one little passanger on board who keeps waking me up by tweeting in my ear! See photo!
Sam x
