Hopefully the last sunrise on board says skipper, Philippe Falle.

Since the first morning of the 24th of october Pantelleria island is in front of us. But not easy to reach be’ cause of a great wind calm on the fleet of the small boats. At 18.00 a “groppo” at 40 knots reach us for few minutes , just the time to un fold the storm jib and to save the light One. Now an hard rain fall washes everithing…..and wind calm again! Bye bye from Le coq hardi!

Barry Hurley racing Dinah two handed

The last few days have been the slowest yet most intense racing I can remember. We dread the thought of being timed out after all this effort, but still cling to the hope of finishing within the time limit.
The stress is somewhat compensated by the amazing scenery though. After a night watching molten lava flowing down the side of Stromboli into the sea, we were treated to an amazing sunrise over the volcano as in the photo below.
We’re doing ok in our class although our main competition is now in different weather systems, so we need to work extra hard to keep in contention. Fingers crossed we have what it takes!

Very quick blog today as we have been exceptionally busy today with many sail changes, gybes and catching up! What a frustrating 24 hours for us, it started with a good position at the lead of the pack and ended having been swallowed up by the fleet! We are pushing ourselves so extremely hard to gain the lost miles and take advantage of any opportunity that may present itself!

This has been the most bizarre offshore race I have ever sailed in, and I for one am loving it! The current position is irrelevant at the moment, I don’t even know where we stand but some of the slower boats in the fleet are around us! The positions keep turning upside down and inside out on an hourly basis. Weather seem unpredictable and weather files unreliable! I have never come across conditions and a race like it!

We have an incredibly strong and resilient team, they are amazing and have the determination to succeed that will carry us across the finish line with our heads held high, safe in the knowledge that we could have done nothing more.

There are another 24 hours of light winds and then on Friday the breeze will pick up providing us with a rapid and exciting finale to this extraordinary race, assuming we have not finished by then which is unlikely! Luckily we do have a water maker onboard and sufficient food to keep us going until breakfast on Friday. Hopefully we will be washing down lunch in the Royal Malta Yacht Club on Friday with a crisp chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc!

Here is an awesome photo taken of us leaving the Messina Straights!

The ever smiling and happy skipper
Philippe