The Feast in the East

It was over a spicy green Thai chicken curry last night for dinner that our current navigational options were discussed amongst the crew. The option to stick it out to the east for longer in order get around the low pressure had been the dominant choice of days prior. However our faint 30 second glimpse of Sanya yesterday disappearing to the north, gliding down wind with her massive A3 up, proved to liven up the debate.

Each weather model was then brought out, and both options argued fairly. As Jules explained to me relative to Sanya’s choice to go north – “it’s quite a risky maneuver, but if it comes off right they’ll probably end up two or three hundred miles ahead. The problem for them might come if it forms slightly closer to the coast as all they will get is the strongest head winds in the most dangerous part of the tropical storm.”

The other side of the proverbial coin is the decision to break from the fleet. Which I gather from the veterans on board, is always a risky move in the Volvo. Right now we are comfortable up with the pack, a few slower schedules of recent but generally moving in the same frontal systems as the leaders. Ian further demonstrated the reasoning to stick with the pack, “you can either come first or last [relative to Sanya’s northern route], but at least this way [to the east with the fleet] we are still in a sailing race and are still racing for second.” Nevertheless it will be an interesting week for all the fleet.

In other news on board Azzam, Bubs has got the tools out and is having a crack at fixing a shiv in the port dagger board case. It’s a fairly major job considering the location of the break and the ability to access it. But Bubs is a clever builder and will likely ‘jimmy’ something together. And if he doesn’t, maybe the ten other guys that come around telling him “ohh I wouldn’t have done it like that” will have a better idea. Or face his wrath!