Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

Hi All,
 
Fast progress today as the wind is on the beam, at 90 degrees to our direction and blowing at 16-22 knots. I am the third fastest boat in the fleet in the middle of the day, beaten only by Safran and VM. I have been tweaking the boat to get the most out of her. Adjusting the jib leads, mainsheet, traveller, and the water ballast system inside the boat. I believe I have made some improvements, which is what I need to do, to learn the boat speed tricks as fast as possible, as unlike most of the other skippers, this is my first ocean race on the boat, and the first time offshore at full pace.
 
This should be a great wind angle for Bahrain Team Pindar, and I need to work up to being the fastest in the fleet, for as much time as possible, in order to get into the leading pack. It’s a constant round of steering, sail trimming and monitoring of the performance, as the boat is not just going to do it by magic. Certainly it is frustrating to see Safran slowly come up from behind when you are going all out, but I must use it as an opportunity to try to match her pace at least.
 
Having said that, I am loving sailing this powerful boat on my own and she feels rock solid.
 
This morning, as yesterday there were some impressive squalls around, and I think I did a slightly better job of keeping speed through the squalls than yesterday. I have a couple of pictures, one of a squall approaching and one of the boat travelling at speed through the squall. Tomorrow morning I will be near the line of a large front off Brasil so will expect some even more spectacular squalls then.
 
But now skies are clear in the afternoon and the sun is searing down onto the deck. Last night it was again crystal clear, and you could see the stars, low down to the horizon. Orion and the Pleiades were very clear to the East and to the South East were the 2 cloud like dwarf galaxies called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, some of my favourite objects in the sky. You need a very dark and clear night to see their subtle form, like bits of the Milky Way that have broken away and are floating on their own.
 
They are named after Ferdinand Magellan who saw them on his own Round the World voyage starting 1519, but actually it was Al Sufi, the Persian astronomer who first mentioned the Large Cloud in 964. He had to travel south to 12N to the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, to see them over the horizon, and he named the cloud Al Bakr, the White Ox. So on Bahrain Team Pindar, it’s Al Bakr from now on.
 
Bye for now..
 
Cabin temp 32 degrees, water temp 25.9 degrees at 16S 29W.
Lots of big flying fish but not seen any predators, though am sure they are below the surface watching BTP slicing past…