24HR Run: Monday 1330-Tues 1330= 132.3nm; avg speed of 5.25kts The final portion of this race is an endurance test to see if we can find wind and somehow get Triple Lindy to the finish. Monday afternoon we had enough wind to make some progress down track, and then things quieted down around midnight. Luckily there was some wind through the early hours of Tuesday, and the morning watch was able to take advantage of the conditions to log some real mileage. At 1300 this afternoon, the wind vanished as we entered the transition zone underneath the weak low pressure trough extending from the East coast and out over Bermuda. So, we are 60nm from the finish and trying any sail combination and direction of travel to grab some wind. We even resorted to an old sailing ship trick of positioning a person up the mast to be a spotter for wind puffs in our area. Pete was our man up the mast, and he did a great job of reporting any whispers of breeze. Pete also spotted a shark out in front of the boat, so any desire by crew to jump in for a quick swim while we drifted under the hot sun was nipped in the bud. It is a spectacularly beautiful seascape out here with distinct light blue ocean waves contrasting with the partly cloudy skies. We are dodging back and forth to see if there is any wind under the numerous cloud formations. As always, the meals aboard are superb, and today’s lunch of eggplant parmegiano was particularly popular. Chicken cacciatore is on the oven now being heated up for dinner. The warm weather and water temps have provided the Triple Lindy crew with a free spa package. Anyone below decks experiences quite a bit of sweating, and we don’t even have to pay a fee for that privilege. The lack of wind will likely result in our not being able to finish until sometime on Wednesday. It was a little frustrating to see many of the gains we made against some of our competitors be whittled away as the trailing boats continued to have wind while those of us up ahead were becalmed in what we called not so positively the “parking lot”. At 1651 today, a wind line from Bermuda bringing SW winds arrived to free us from our becalmed status. We tried to show the appropriate professionalism (amidst our celebration) to be moving once the winds filled in. We did not feel too much sympathy for those who caught up with us, but were still awaiting their turn to escape the “parking lot”. There is much anticipation as we get busy with sailing the final leg into Bermuda. Pete and Rory are back at their task of releasing rig tension for the light air to come, and the rest of us are tending to the sail handling and various chores.
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