DAY 10 - July 19 2019

Here is a little update of the crew aboard :

" Let’s start with the highlight of the day. This morning the sun was shining early. We finally got to feel that warm light we have been longing, the one that dries everything on deck. You can get up and turn your lower back towards the sun and in a couple of minutes your underpants are dry and you feel reborn. We, therefore, decided to bring everything out on the deck and it looked like a garage sale! Then we took a very long and deserved shower ... a delight! We still have 360 miles to the finish line, and we have one of the smallest boat... and need to tack all the time. The only satisfaction is our computer showing a 10 knot average since the start of the race. For the s**** of the day, we had to repair the A4 spinnaker. And it so happens, it is the one I was talking about 2 weeks ago. We have a brand new electric system. New generation lithium batteries. 42 pounds 330 Amps with slow and steady capacity. All this coupled to a software and alternator controlled by a computer or iPad. We can charge from 10 to 100% in 45 mins. Seemed too good to be true... yet engineers messed up with the size of the cable conduits. And that’s when everything started to fizzle and burn! Friday afternoon! 5 days from the start! The technical team from Toronto worked on solving the issues the entire week. The chief engineer jumped on a plane with all his tools. Sergei, a Russian straight out of a James Bond movie with an accent worse than mine... By Tuesday, right before the race, everything was working perfectly. After 10 days on the water, I can say the software is pretty incredible. We only ran the motor for about 3 hours. We also use a small 125W solar panel. That was the technical side... On the food side, nothing exciting: pasta and more pasta. Still not drinking wine but the good news is we will have two bottles of Chateaux Giscours 2010 to celebrate in Hawaii, and we have duck confit as well! 15-16 knots or thereabouts, not exactly exciting. We are focusing on the shortest possible route and of course, my routing software is disagreeing. Going with our gut feeling now. We should arrive on Sunday morning and might even be on time for church. This feels like the longest part of the race when we just want to get there but it seems we are not moving at all! We should arrive under 11 days. In 2011, it took us 13 days with the first 40. We brought back the classics: REM , Alphaville, Llooyd Cole and Bonski beat. Makes us feel young again... Love, Girafon."

Remember the Girafon team is Sailing for ALS.
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