Sam Davies in the Trophée BPE - Day 22

SKANDIA has progressed only 100 miles since yesterday's position at 1000hrs BST making for slow progress in continuing light 2-6 knots of wind and shify conditions. Since navigating the compulsory waypoint south of the Turks and Caicos Islands, SKANDIA this morning is approximately 72 miles from the coast of Cuba lying in 4th place an estimated 9 miles behind third-placed Gildas Morvan on CERCLE VERT. "My GPS estimates it will take 16.5 hours to reach the coast," said Sam and, no doubt, it will be a long 16.5 hours as the leaders struggle to average one knot of speed. "It is a struggle between trimming and trying to sleep, there is not much you can do, except try to get to the coast of Cuba and the prospect of the new thermal breeze first." Thermal breeze generated by the land mass can be found as much as 30 miles offshore and SKANDIA will desperately be searching for that new breeze to help her reach the finish line that still lies another 484 miles away.

EMAIL FROM SAM (0148HRS)

Hello!

Yes, this racing across the Atlamtic is fun, but it is certainly not easy! After a realtively smooth night [Sam is talking about the previous night] with spinnaker, then genoa reaching, the wind gradually dropped until there was nothing. It was a beautiful sunrise behind a big squall cloud, but it was difficult to appreciate it because of the stress of no wind.

We drifted and "flapped" all morning, until a fickle breeze (1-3kts (!) filled in. On the nose! So we tacked our way slowly along. Gildas gained a bit because this new breeze filled in from the North (where he was) but I could still see him all day, which was a good gauge.

Now, we are very tight spinnaker reaching, slightly low of course, but fast with the spinnaker, in a realtive gale - 6-8kts! I am not expecting this breeze to last the night, however, so I imagine more "flap flapping" later on. Need to sleep now whilst the going is good!

I am going to need some good r&r at the end of this race. It is strange how your body keeps going with (little) complaint / need for rest for such a long duration, thanks to the adrenalin of the race. The reason why I thought about this was that I had been looking at my hands, which are a bit worse for wear, but I am sure that there is more than just my hands that need attention! For sure, I will need some good manicures to turn my hands back into girls hands!

I think that also, I will sleep 13 hours / night for at least 2 weeks!

Right, I had better go and do some whistling for some wind......

Oh, and one last thing before I go - spare a thought for the poor little flying fish that crashed into me at top speed. The impact was so great that his eyes popped out - literally! I found him lying on the deck this morning - eyeless - and one of his eyes was just next to him. Don't know where the other one went. Hope I didn't sit on it. ( I took photo evidence, but won't send it in case anyone is squeamish....) Speak to you later

Sam
x

EXTRACT OF AUDIO WITH SAM (1000HRS)

What is the hardest thing about these conditions?
It's a juggle between trying to trim the boat constantly and trying to sleep a bit. There has been a couple of calm patches but mostly a little trickle of wind which is a bit less demoralising than having no wind at all.

The wind is light, is it still shifty?
It's still really shifty and I am sitting here with my finger on the remote control playing every little puff that comes through. The wind is going from 2 knots to just less than 6 knots.

Will the land mass of Cuba bring more breeze?
Cuba is a big island and creates its own wind and even in no wind there is like little thermal depressions that form over Cuba so all the way round there is wind and I think the sea breeze can be quite strong and if you stick close to the shore you can get some kind of night breeze as well. The problem is where we are right now, between Cuba and Haiti, there is a bit of a fight going on between the two islands for the wind so that's why it is quite tricky to get through.

How are you coping?
I am managing to cope and I can cope better than some other people in these conditions. In other races I've seen people screaming on their boats and stamping on their decks in these kind of conditions so I imagine that when I am here on my own and think of the people getting more stressed than me! There is some luck involved in getting to the thermal breeze first but for now I am just going with the flow.

How far/long to Cuba?
Cuba is 72.5 miles away and my GPS tells me that is 16.5 hours away.

Communications thanks to BT Broadband

LATEST POSITIONS 1000 BST 24/4/05 (boat name / average boat speed /distance to leader)

1. CREDIT MARITIME - ZEROTWO / 0.8kts / 437.1nm to finish
2. BOSTIK / 1.3kts / +14.8nm
3. CERCLE VERT / 4.7kts / +38.6nm
4. SKANDIA / 4.1kts / +47.8nm
5. BANQUE POPULAIRE / 6.1kts / +77.7nm
6. AQUARELLE.COM / 5.5kts / +78.8nm
7. ATAO AUDIO SYSTEM / 6.4kts / +78.9nm
8. GEDIMAT / 6.1kts / +79.4nm
9. COUTOT ROEHRIG / 5.8kts / +82.7nm
10. TOTAL / 5.4kts / +102.7nm
11. ENTREPRENDRE AU PAYS DE LORIENT / 1.6kts / 188.6nm
12. LITTLE BLACK SHARK / 3.9kts / +282.6nm