2013JUL13-1630-PDT

When I went to my bunky on Thursday night Warrior was standing in first place in their division.  When I got a look at it on Friday afternoon they had dropped to 6th - quite a turn around of fortunes.

Since I know it was Doug and Chuggy's plan to go to sleep all night I immediately wanted to blame the kids.  But I thought I had better review the film.  And there it was.

10 short years ago your correspondent was in the race and I remember that we strayed too close in the lee of San Nicolas Island.  To close was still 5 miles away but we wallowed in the dark for a few hours in a sloppy calm with light winds from several directions.  The replay seems to confirm it and I speculate that this might have been there undoing again.

If it was an issue it has been forgotten by now.  Here is a message received from the boat yesterday:

"All is well on Warrior. We had a slow night last night, again, but we are sailing now under the full main and number one. Yesterday we had to gybe to get around Catalina which will mean more to bill than anyone else but it tells you that we ad unusual wind conditions at the start of the race. Wind today is between 8 and 12 knots and we are sailing at 8 knows. There was a shout from above about 20 minutes ago to have a look at a whale that passed by about 100 metres away.

The 'dudes' are sailing well and it is great to have them along. They are really quite good sailors and I appreciate Zac in particular who has taken an interest in navigating which is a thankless part of this trip. It is good to have someone to talk to about those things.

With luck we will get a happy hour today.

Best to everyone.

 
Crew of Warrior"

It is a little hard to tell with the tracker being delayed when what is happening.

After that short sojourn they seem to be charging back now.

And good news for weather over the next few days the high is strengthening and there looks to be very good pressure down the course.