Mirabaud has the gennaker up and is heading west at full speed. We spoke to Dominique Wavre via satellite phone for some insight on their next move. “We plan to gybe this evening to head towards the West Indies. The timing is crucial, as it will determine our course into the Caribbean Sea,” he said. “We are aiming to keep our distance from the islands to avoid extra boat handling and losing the wind in the lee of the islands. We expect to have some light conditions as we make our way through the Caribbean, so there is still much to play for.”
Last night, Michele sent us the following message: “The gennaker feels good and the boat is settled for the night. Yesterday we had the spinnaker up – 600m2 of cloth speeding us along in 20-25knots of wind. We took short shifts on the helm, an hour at a time was plenty and by the end of the day, we were tired and a little bit tense…
The gennaker that we have up tonight gives us a little bit of respite and means that we can rest, change out of our dirty, smelly cloths and crack open the Nutella jar (a favourite moment for Dom) – it’s on borrowed time!
Our average speed is good and we are gradually eating up the remaining 1,000nm to the North edge of the Windies.
