Crew member on NZL76 BSL

An interesting but fun 24 hours on BSL, with a pretty wild and wet ride across the Irish Channel. Very fast, but also very wet. We got away from Lands End without incident, bashing and crashing through the overfalls, then the SW set in and a wet wild and bumpy night resulted in a few bruises, little sleep and a bit of a mess downstairs. We passed very close by two of our competitors and were pleased to see that we had matching sail configurations. We made a mistake after dark and lost a lot of miles to them both and we all met up at Fastnet Rock just after sunrise. So, we know she has potential.

Life on board has improved significantly since bearing away at Fastnet Rock and hoisting the A2 (again another great test opportunity as rounded within lengths of two other Class 40s). The sun came out, a few gybes, Fish Pie for breakfast (first meal for over 12 hours), a good cleanup of the interior, drying out some soggy thermals and a quick cleanup with some wetwipes.

Some fantastic 'champagne sailing' 20 kts flat off with the monster A2 up, dolphins for company and some very good plunger coffee and digestives. Also, unbelieveably, it is hot and sunny.

Some interesting action coming up for tonight, as we are in reasonably close company with first and second place, and the breeze is going to lighten and head us (hopefully!) down to Bishop Rock. We are converging on the guys in front, so have our sleeves rolled up and are working on a strategy to reel them in, lets see how that pans out over the next 18 hours.