White horses

It's been an eventful 48 hours on the good ship Derry. We've had 3 snapped ropes (stay sheet, yankee halyard andreef line 3), a life raft come untied (caught before it fell off!) and most seriously a broken steering cable which left 

us dead in the water for nearly 90 minutes whiler skipper fixed it. But I'm happy to report we've come through in 

one piece. 

Conditions remain extreme - 45-50 knot winds (about 85-90kmph) but thankfully behind us which leads to more 

pleasant conditions, very high speeds (23 knots registered today - about 40kmph) and incredible helming 

conditions. The seascape is simply stunning - rolling mountains of water with white horses as far as you can sea 

in every direction. There were many swells today of over 20m from peak to trough. Photos just don't do it justice 

but it is something I will never forget. We also had bright sunshine for most of the day - it really was the North 

Pacific at its finest. 

Helming (steering) has been fun but very tricky. I took over yesterday evening around dusk as a series of squalls 

hit. One particularly strong one resulted in our first broach of the race - this is when a gust pulls the boat into a 

 sharp turn which tips over the whole boat dramatically ending with the boom (pole which the bottom of sails are attached to)  in the water. All you can do is fight it and hold on until the gust eases. Thankfully skipper was on deck so all was fine, and given the next 3 helms had a further 6 broaches between them I felt a lot better about the 

whole incident! Although a broach can be very dangerous to the boat, these were all relatively minor - it was 

comedy value though watching each helm confidently take the wheel and within 10 minutes suffer the same 

inevitable fate. 

Thankfully the conditions improved a little today so no further broaches to report.
 
The race continues to go well - we are currently around 4th or 5th and happy with our position (on the map rather

 than result) and boat speed. It looks like we'll be in a pack of 5 or 6 that will escape an imminent wind hole which will really split the fleet. The race remains very much on and we will be looking to improve our placing in the 

coming days. Tough headwinds predicted in 24-36  hours so sadly, life at 45 degrees will be on the cards again.