Glad to Have Him Back

It has been a pretty quiet few days for an MCM here onboard the boat since the start in Rio five days ago. We were pretty becalmed for the first 30 hours but since then we've been fetching on starboard in a 10 to 15 knot wind range. Most of the time we have had some competition in sight although yesterday was a little frustrating for the crew as we suffered a run of bad position reports on the rest of the fleet throughout the day. During the night things did turn in our favor a little. We had a few good three hour runs against the fleet but it’s not enough and we still need to find a little extra something from somewhere if we want to be a player at the scoring gate.

Speaking for myself, I've been feeling a little "tapped out" so far on this leg, and as I've said before my theory is that Leg Five is still taking its toll. For that reason it has been great to have the scheduled switch between Shannon jumping in for Jerry. OK- so the stories are not quite so colorful but just like Jerry, Shannon is a great guy to have around and as always dive's straight into the task at hand. Today is his day as "minister for the interior,” and I swear the galley is SHINING (see picture). Shannon grew up around boats and even sailed around the world as a child with his father so he is clearly a good ship-mate and a real asset to the team. It sure is quiet around here without Jerry though.

- Rick