Hi all,

Things are cooling down finally here after an earlier error. not hard to Do When completely nackered After barely sleeping The night Before by playing with The TSS and a number of sail changes. ah Well, The God's will decide What Will happen.

Other Then thAt, Things Are Great on board and We Have made The Best of The Good weather and spring cleaned The boat. I Say We, It Was more Ian As I Was stuck to The helm As We Still Don't Have an autopilot.few Other Things Have broken making life That bit less comfortable such As The Now missing wind wand, dodgy keyboard (typing This On The Samsung pad) and The seemingly endless supply of The slightly less favourite meal The yellow Curry. Still The All day breakfast Is keeping morale up As I sign This Off to tend to The Lunch of steak and vegetables.

reminders:

- Don't forget to Keep supporting CLIC On Just giving (RARE) you Can Also access This link Though Our Facebook page (RAREyachting)

- All Welcome to see the finish Hopefully Tomorrow afternoon.It's easy for You to check, Look up The race On yellow brick.

Cheers

@conradkmanning

conradkmanning.wordpress.com

ps we have had a fantastic afternoon run, gobbling the miles

--

As at 0800 FRI

We started thursday with some welcome phone signal at the Scillies but also

the disappointing news that Relentless had gone north of the line across

the Irish sea and gone ahead. However, after a brief "sad-on" we rekindled

our determination to catch up. The wind filled in yesterday afternoon and

we started enjoying the sleigh ride home hoping that 'Mr Broach' or 'Mrs

Wrap' did not rear their ugly heads.

The wind built to 20 knots from the west and we held our largest spinnaker,

the A2, and began seeing speeds of 12-15 knots on the log - it was a

question of hanging on hard in the gusts and trying to keep the boat

straight and upright, maximising the blinding downwind speed the J111 is

famed for. As dusk drew near we knew we were in for tough night to hold the

kite; the sea had built up and winds were gusting 25 knots, and the night

was pitch black. With all 5 required on deck for every gybe and more than a

few wraps and broaches it was a busy night. Trimming and helming required

100% concentration throughout. Come dawn, we are all exhausted but with an

average speed through the water of 9 knots overnight it was worth it - and

we seem to have taken a valuable few miles from Relentless.

The finish line is in sight not although still a good few hours of sailing

to go. The crew will need a health drive as we seem to have no ration

breakfasts left but about 80 apples!

The race with Relentless has been relentless and they are proving to be

tough opponents. Whatever happens we are looking forward to catching up

with them for a beer at the end.

As at 0600 Thu

The wind frustrated us all of Wednesday. With the promise of 10 knots now

and again, but mostly staying at 5-8, we have had our two spinnakers and

the No.1 Jib up and down in a bid for boatspeed. Thanks to Team Army our

new A2 looks great and is giving us every last drop of boat speed we can

gain. Our slow progress has worried us, with the knowledge of Relentless

hot on our heels. Meanwhile, crew are taking on a gradually more unkempt

appearance. "Beardwatch" is a full time activity. George's Zoidberg wisp is

coming along well; Barnesy has cultivated a ratty looking

number; Will resembles a spanish drug smuggler, Joe's looks like the Team

America Arab disguise - he is now known as "tufty", and the skipper's

mexican tache is thickening daily. Our wispy beards and wild hair is now

often paired with manical wild eyed bouts of hysterical laughter that occur

regularly, over things that are perhaps not that hysterically funny. And we

have run out of Ribena which has caused much angst among the younger

members of the crew.

Much sleeping has occurred thanks to calm conditions, which is seemingly

not able to relieve the fatigue that is affecting us all now, perhaps as a

result of the lull in the weather and general lower stress conditions.

Ration consumption is high now due to boredom and the luxury of two extra

man's rations; the daily haribo issue is consumed by 0900 every morning;

and so for the loved ones expecting us to lose a few pounds on this trip,

you may be in for a disappointment... !

As at 2100 Tues 19 Aug

Dolphins, Spinnakers and sun! So the weather has finally turned in our

favour and we had an early start with all crew on deck to pop the A5 and

then the A2 spinnaker. We gradually got into routine and have managed to

dry out significantly. The salt water strip washes are not for the faint

hearted though! Phil's elite athlete stature was unfortunately seen by

all! Skippers toothbrush also got used for second time of the trip, first

being to try to clean salt from satphone circuit boards. Will has seen his

feet for the first time in 4 days - stage 1 trenchfoot is an

understatement! Barnsey has been working on his mahogany tan and generally

looking gorgeous although very Zoolander. Joe has had a hard day trimming

and holds the record for most ginger nuts eaten in one day. George has

avoided aquatic life today however his aroma seems to have attracted many

dolphins. Some great footage has been taken on the new ASA GoPro (Thanks

Alan). Lunch today was a lovely chorizo and pasta with a garlic and tomato

sauce by Will "Gordon" Naylor. Yum! What is not yum is the immense smell of

feet in the cabin as everyone is drying their socks out.

Bottle of champagne at westerly point this evening. All recovered after a

day sleeping and minimum manning on deck to trim the kite and steer. Ready

for the next few days of hard trimming, reading the wind and driving

carefully. All in a day of sun, dolphins, drying out and a bit of recovery

ready for the final push.