A short update from Telefonica Blue. Beating upwind in 15 knots of breeze, progress is ok, but about 2-3 knots slower than normal, as we are sailing with our small J4. 

It is good that this sail has a separate stay, independent from the forestay otherwise we would have been out. So we are all looking on the bright side, it could have been game over, but luckily not. The sea is confused, but there is nice light outside, at least that’s what I think.  Patan [Pablo Arrarte] can’t care less, he is rolled up like a small ball, trying to stay warm. The northern people onboard are laughing, we still are without gloves and only have one thin base layer on. We are teasing Patan and telling him, wait until we are getting real south. I offered him already extra gear, just in case. 

Tom [Addis] is making adjustments to our polars (theoretical boatspeed for each angle), as we are going slower having only the small sail, to see what kind of implications it has on our routing .

And last, which we haven’t forgotten: we all like to wish Pedro, our CEO, a happy birthday!

Bouwe Bekking - Skipper