40 Degrees reports from the fog

Date: 21/05/2010
TRANSLATED FROM HALVARD'S REPORT:

Hello Earthlings,

When are you going to get rid of this fog ? What on earth is the department for the environment up to?
We have been sailing in Irish “smog” for quite some time now, and apart from a brief interlude during the night which allowed us to see that stars do still exist, we can’t really say that the scenery has changed a great deal recently.

Now I come to think of it, the first part of the solo Artemis Transat in 2008 was in similar conditions, at about the same time of year. Except that we were going in the right direction, ie downwind.

So saying, the current upwind conditions are pretty good. The boat is well-trimmed and looking after herself, either with the tiller locked off, or in economy mode on autopilot. This has meant that we were able to get some good rest during the night, and I must admit that I rather needed it, since I have had very little sleep since the start of the race, and Maurice Herzog would have been able to count the number of hours of sleep I have had on his few remaining fingers. The main manoeuvres at the moment involve adjusting the amount of water in the ballast tanks, putting in the occasional tack plus the stacking session that goes with it, and other than that, we have some free time, to write to you, for example.

According to the position reports, we have noticed that Spliff has decided to have a pint of Guinness? Please send us some news from land (apart from football news, thank you), so that we aren’t too out of the loop when we finish.
Though I am fairly certain we won’t have missed much.

A bientot

40 Degrees