Good Call.

Just after I sent my last blog about dropping the kite and throttling back for the evening I got a e-mail from Tamsin, 'According to Blogstar your still 1st on handicap'. It got me thinking weather I should put the kite back up and run the risk in order to maintain this position. Well here we are at 4.30 am, I haven't slept a wink and Elmarleen is on fire. Not the Roman Candle type fire my Lambretta has in it exhaust at 15 mph, but the type of fire Jensen Button has inside his wheel hub as he exits the last corner for the finish of the Monaco GP ( he did win didn't he?) Elmarleen is flying along and it looks like I made the right call. Being the slowest boat left in the fleet and surfing down waves at 10.4 knots isn't throttling back and flying a kite was just not necessary. I think of the J boats out there who don't have a conventional spinnaker pole and have to either use there asymmetric at some crazy direction to the wind or white sail it without poling out the jib. Here I am sailing the exact course I want surfing up to 10knots in a controlled manner with the wind vane doing all the work. I feel sorry for anyone who might have thought of keeping the kite up - surely it will end in a broach, tear or a very very tired skipper too scared to blink.

I will be very surprised if I have slipped back a place on the ranking over night. I just hope the tracker took its fix and gave my speed at the moment I surfed that wave.

Will and Elmarleen.

P.S Someone once said to me, "Will, you say it is only a cruising Sigma, but it's a cruising Sigma race prepared by McLaren" That meant a lot Russell.