Saturday 1st November

Position 17'32.593S 31'43.237W
Wind 315Deg 3.9 knots
COG 191 Deg SOG 3.5 knots
Distance Covered 4,070, Distance to Finish (straight line) 3,166 Miles

Well, we finally ran out of wind at about 4pm this afternoon and since then have been struggling to achieve boat speeds of much over two or three knots. Wind has fallen below one knot - but there is always SOME wind and its a question of making the most of it - and trying to keep going in roughly the right direction! We have hit a large trough of high pressure that currently extends about 125 miles south of us - or nearly two days sailing at this rate!
On the plus side, we entered this zone still over 30 miles to the south of the Chileans and are managing to maintain this southerly advantage - although not always on a distance to finish basis as they head further East. With this under our belts, in theory we should be first out of this pressure zone and pick up the new wind to the south before them. However, it looks as if the Germans on Beluga Racer have made it south far enough in time for this system to close in behind them and they are now looking in a very strong position.

So, perfect beach weather, not perfect sailing weather. 40 degrees in the shade and the decks are too hot to walk on. Unlike the Doldrums, there are no signs of the squall clouds that are so famous for that region and provide patches of wind for you to work - here the sky is cloudless and we are truly at the mercy of the wind Gods. A minor blessing is that we are, at last, able to open all the hatches on Mowgli and get what little air there is flowing through the cabin below. Doesn't make it much cooler but you have had two blokes living down here for the last three weeks...!

We are thrilled to hear that Alex Thomson has managed to get Hugo Boss back into the water this morning. What an amazing achievement in such a short space of time. He is trialling the boat today and tomorrow and we will be thinking of him. Only a week to go before the start of the Vendee!

Love to all.

Jeremy and David

Friday 31st October

Position 14'45.538S 33.31.301W
Wind 85 deg. 11.5 knots
COG 175 deg SOG 9.4 knots
Distance Covered 3,882 Nautical Miles. Distance to finish 3017 (straight line)

Firstly apologies for the lack of communication from Team Mowgli yesterday. We've been working pretty hard and guess we were tired out by that and the relentless heat. Additionally of course, it is good for you all to understand that no news is NOT bad news! There will inevitably be times, particularly in the Southern Ocean legs, when we are just not able to scribe our daily missive. We are always in touch with Pip each day on the phone and I'm sure he will always keep you in touch with where we are even if you don't hear it from the horses mouth.

So, we managed to beat those Red Hot Chili Peppers to the first scoring gate to pick up our 1.5 points. Hooray!! It doesn't sound like many, but over the course of the race, the available points for the scoring gates will equal those available for a whole leg, so even half a point counts! The other milestone we achieved yesterday was passing the half way mark according to the the official race calculations. Of course, we sail quite a lot more miles than their straight line theory and their theoretical half way point of 3,242 miles actually took us nearly 3,700 miles over the ground. The additional distance covered in the second half is likely to be greater - although we don't know what route the organisers have used!

Now, the other strange effect their calculations have is on the 3 hourly reporting schedules as these are simply a measure of Distance to Finish (DTF) along the theoretical line - which we can't sail! The weather systems in the Southern Atlantic are dominated by a huge area of high pressure (equals no wind!) situated roughly over the island of St. Helena. So, in order to get to Cape Town broadly speaking we have to head south in order to get round the high pressure system and pick up on a low pressure one which will spin us off East. So, we could reduce our DTF sharply right now by turning and heading East instead of South BUT it wouldn't help us in the long run one little bit!

So, I can't tell you what our tactics are (then I would have to kill you - there are spies out there too you know!) but suffice to say our current heading is deliberate! Hopefully we will eventually manage to gain some further miles on RHCP and Roaring Forty (even though he is in a different class) and, if are very lucky (or they are unlucky!) manage to close ground on the Germans.

Here Endeth the Lecture...

We were set a task yesterday of sending a photograph to the organisers of us holding up the Portimao flag. Sounds straight forward but you wouldn't believe what a job and what a laugh it turned out to be. Balancing the camera precariously next to one of the winches and propped up on a pair of foulie bottoms we set the 10 second self timer and then had to rush across the boat, pick up the flag and strike suitable pose. Well, as you can imagine, it didn't work out for the first dozen attempts...

I saw a huge school (Hmm, I wonder if that's the right word - another quiz coming on!) of dolphins whizzing past yesterday morning. There must have been forty or more all leaping out of the water and charging across the ocean in front of us. No idea where they were going but they were certainly on a mission and much too fast for me to get the camera out!

So quiz time for the kids!! We all know that chickens come in flocks and cows come in herds but I wonder if you can tell us what the collective noun for the following animals that we are likely to see are:

1. Whales
2. Penguins
3. Sharks
4. Dolphins
5. Turtles
6. Albatrosses
7. Flying Fish

Answers to Pip - they don't have to be right - there might not even be 'right' answers to them all - as funny ones get prizes too! Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!

Speak soon.

Lots of Love

Jeremy and David

Wednesday 29th October

Position 7'35.797S 33'03.666W
Wind 124 deg 18.4 knots
COG 190 deg SOG 10.5 knots
Distance Covered 3,456 Miles. Distance to waypoint 44.2 miles

The Norwegians are not well known for Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken - or so we can attest after tonight's dinner! Now we know why Alex Thomson was keen to let us have all his left over food at knock down prices... Hey Ho, just got to go with it and eat what's there! Most of it is quite palatable but I'm sure this was made with Reindeer! We have meals made by companies from Norway, Germany, New Zealand and the UK and the best of the lot are the British Army ration pack porridge with raisins!!

Making good progress to the waypoint and should pass it just after 1am tomorrow morning and then we alter our course slightly to the south before waiting for a low pressure system to spin us off towards Africa. We have lost a little bit of ground to the Chileans but will still make it to the gate well ahead of them to claim our precious 1.5 points! It will be interesting to see the different routes taken by the other two lead boats and of course the Chileans behind us - we need to try and cover them as much as possible at the same time as racing our own race.

We are being urged on by the race organisers to get our video cameras out and do more filming so we had a good interview with David today. Of course the most exciting stuff to film is when something is going wrong or you are just plain busy - not good times to say Stop! and go to get the camera out! Picture of David helming today attached for the ladies out there!

Love to all.

Jeremy & David

Monday 27th October

 
Position 0'25.9219S 39'53.282W
Wind 164 deg 15.9kn
COG 206 deg SOG 9.4kn
Distance Covered 2,981 Nautical MIles Distance to next Waypoint 511 miles

What an exciting 24 hours it has been. After chasing down the Chileans on Cape HOrn for the past two weeks, we finally managed to overtake them late last night and move up into second position in our class. For some days now we have known that we have been in a relatively strong position, being the most easterly boat of the two of us and that when we got into the south-east trades, we would have a better angle of sail and hence a little more speed. We have steadily managed to widen the gap since overtaking them and are concentrating hard on keeping up boat speed and direction toward the gate off Recife. Sill more than two days sailing away and of course anything can happen...

This afternoon, just after 2pm, we crossed the equator and have finally made it into the Southern Hemisphere which we will spend the next five or six months circumnavigating. We marked the occasion with a small bottle of champagne, the first tot of which went to Neptune and opened our treasured freeze dried ice cream bars!! Amazing, they actually tasted of ice cream and lifted the spirits. Sadly not cool and refreshing though and warm champagne isn't the best!

Sunday 26th October

Position 2'35.970 N 28'26.336W
Wind 149 deg. 17.2kn.
COG 205 deg. SOG 9.3kn
Distance covered 1,790 Nautical Miles. Distance to next waypoint 711 miles.

Well, we have been in squall alley for the last twenty four hours! dark, heavy clouds appearing all round us and playing havoc with our wind. As I have said before though, they present not only threat but also opportunity. By judging their speed and direction, we are able to 'bounce' off the edges of them and avoid going through the worst of it. This way, we tend to get the lull in the wind before, as the storm system sucks in the surrounding air and then a pretty strong but constant wind on the fringes. Whilst we can't always predict the direction, at least we can do something with it.

I guess it's all about results and we are both over the moon at the way we have caught up with the Chileans on Cape Horn. The latest report puts us within 2 miles of them but over 20 miles to their south. Before we entered the Doldrums we were some 175 miles behind them. So lets move on and get Roaring Forty in our sights, some 100 miles ahead...

At the time of writing we are about 140 miles from the Equator, a milestone in any sailors logbook. David has crossed before so will be master of ceremonies in our toast (and probable sacrifice of Jeremy!) to Neptune. We have a small bottle of champagne (thanks Mumn!) and, wait for it... Freeze Dried Ice Cream!!! Party time indeed... pictures to follow tomorrow.

Thanks to all those twitchers out their for identifying our travel companion of yesterday as a Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron.

Hopefully out of all these squalls by the time the night is over and then into steady south-east trade winds down to the waypoint off Recife.

Hope all is well at home.
Love
Jeremy & David