Flap flap flap.....flap flap... thats the sound on deck since last
night. The North Atlantic shows his calm side. Very light wind and the
swell from the last days with wind.

The sound of the flapping sails is a very intense and loud sound. You
can see it in the boys eyes on deck, it hurts. Sometimes 0,00 knots of
boat speed, no progress towards Lizard Point. Frustration. Sometime you
can hear the boys swearing...haughhhhhhhhh.... what the hell is going on
here.... we don't deserve that....

Although we enjoy our time on board we are looking forward to the
finish. The boys on SHAKTI allways on our stern makes the boys fight hard.

A few hours ago they tacked away and now we are on seperated tacks,
everybody trying out his strategy and his luck. Sailing at night in this
very light stuff is close to gambling. Who ever catches the wind first
is gone. The one behind sees him sailing away to then catch the wind and
eat up the separating miles. The one in front gets to the light winds
ahead first and the one behind comes close again with the old wind. We
use to say: The second mouse gets the cheese.

This is an ongoing game. You need strong nerves to play it. Especially
the helmsmen. With no boat speed the boat does not give him any feedback
on the rudder. Driving in these conditions is sometimes like stiring the
ocean, trying at least to keep the bow in the right direction.

At the moment we are doing around 7knots, going in the right direction.
The routing says this weather will stay the same until the finish....
bye bye fast downwind sailing at high speed. We are allready missing the
spray flying over deck and the sound of the sheets on the winches. These
conditions make life easier on board and are part of offshore sailing as
the heavy weather is. It's a misterium, you are allways looking for the
opposite.

But, allways remember, we can not complain. So far we had a very fast
and easy trip. Thats at least what the North Atlantic veterans on board
say...