Night sailing and tradewinds
22 July 2012 | Pacific Ocean
James
Last night we changed from the big blue class spinnaker to the smaller white shy kite to make the boat easier to handle in the the increased wind after dark, as well as the sail easier to see. Without a moon the blue kite disappears in the darkness. At first I protested down-shifting to the smaller sail, but soon we were smashing downwind, submarining the bow through waves and sending walls of water down the length of the boat. I bumped our speed record for the race up to 16.7 knots from my previous 14 and E.T. was loving it! Below decks it was hard to sleep with the rudder humming and water pounding at the hull as we surged over and through the waves. The night driving was very intense and there was definitely some pucker factor as we ripped through the moonless night on the edge of control, but we were rewarded the next morning with the 2nd highest 24 hour distance run in our division and 1st place on corrected time for our fleet! In the day light we changed back to the big blue kite and everyone enjoyed driving in the 15+ knot breeze and 3-4 foot waves. The grey overcast skies broke and we spent the day in sunshine and the occasional shade from puffy white clouds, as well as a few rain squalls. Just like the Pacific Cup brochure advertised! Are we in the tradewinds for good now?