As we enter the fifth day of the race, our little pack - Bellino, Diablo, Tigris and Mzungu - are still within a few miles of each other. Morale is high on board Bellino as we made a relative gain on the others. In such close racing you have to balance strategy - the big picture - with tactics - the opportunity to make a small gain on your neighbours.
Last night we tacked inshore on the beat past Great Skellig. We reasoned that the wind was forecast to go right, but had to balance this against the forecast of slightly stronger winds offshore. We tacked, Tigris followed, Diablo continued. End result - we gained a mile and a half on Diablo. That’s also the big question - if one if your pack tacks, or changes sail, do you follow?
Strategically, the winds are so light our main aim is to position us wherever the wind is strongest. But grib files are often inaccurate when winds are this light, so the big question is when to believe them. I try to look for a reason why - if I can understand why an area has a particular wind strength or direction I am more inclined to believe it. And a good AIS is a godsend - from the speed and direction of other boats in the race we can make a pretty good guess as to the wind where they are. Then the boat slows down and navigation comes second to keeping the boat moving…