Weather forecasts I had read made me worry that they would be hitting 20kt winds and 6' seas when they rounded that corner. Instead, they described calmer conditions with the east wind being only about 10kts. I tried to stay awake watching the SPOT display but fell asleep around 2:30am. Glad to see they arrived at CP3 in good shape at 3:30am today (Thursday.)
You would think they would sleep then, but with various chores to do (preparing to anchor or preparing to make sail, having meals, other chores, etc.) they may have gotten only two hours sleep before they called home at 8:30am today.
Before hurrying away from the phone to leave CP3, they briefly described their sail from CP2 to CP3.
They hugged the shoreline as much as possible for flatter water and less wind. They sailed fulled reefed the whole way, which means no jib and the mainsail lowered 8'. (The top of the mast has a hook which catches the top of the mainsail, and 8' down from that there is a reefing hook.) Whenever they needed to tack or maneuver they roller-furled out some of the job. The boat tacks much more reliably with the job deployed. The sailed fulled reefed because their speed was already adequate (7-10 kts) and the ride was drier. SOS slept in the grand cabin for one and a half hours while SandyBottom single-handed on a long run. At a different time SandyBottom slept on the trampoline for one and a half hours while SOS single handed.
SOS told me that SB was "very brave" going from CP2 to CP3. SB told me "It was so scary. But Alan's skills and expertise sailing the boat are amazing" (or equivalent words)
The "Mosquito" has not been using much of its sails: main, jib, huge Code Zero headsail. It's a boat ready for light air. Instead, this year we have huge relentless winds. The reefing abilities of the "Mosquito" satisfy the WaterTribe's written rules for reefing, but I wonder if SOS is wishing he had a second reefing point in the mainsail so that he could be using a little mainsail and some jib most of the time.
At 9:30am today they sailed away from CP3.
