Vanquish Update - Nav Station

Things have been going very well onboard. Morale is high, along with the wind and waves. We are now roughly 165 miles due south of Charleston and sailing TWA 70-80 on port, just  blast reaching along at a steady 13-14 knots of boatspeed in 16-17 knots of wind. We are getting launched off waves right and left, and its gotten quite wet outside as well as down below. Walking anywhere requires all limbs available, and typing or navigating at a computer can be quiet difficult. We can expect this direction of wind and strength for at least another several hours, then she will slowly start to shift left and decrease slightly in velocity; but that will free up our angle and speed.

We did a solid job of linking up with the Gulf Stream last night, however overstepped ourselves with the stream. We ended up slightly east of the western wall of the stream, because we wanted to sail a better angle with our sail plan rather than stay hard on the wind to remain in the stream. We now have a great set up and are just clicking away miles towards Charleston, however Rosebud, our main competition, has moved in directly in front of us, approximately 11.7 miles dead ahead. That translates to about 50 minutes ahead of us. They dont have much leverage on us as we are both on the same parallel of hte Stream, which is good; and means the rest of the race is now a drag race.They are very clearly a extremely well sailed team of professionals, they will be hard to reel in.

We should finish around midnight tonight or just after, and look forward to jumping out of some very wet clothes.

 

Everyone's hard work all week long is really paying off as the crew work and boat are flawless. Great attitudes, killer boat, and getting out of the classroom for a week to actually navigate and sail a vessel is more than we could ever ask for! Thank you to everyone at school, professors and officers, for supporting the sailing team and all our adventures! It always is a once in a lifetime adventure with Kings Point sailing.