Brian Thompson and crew are enjoying some 'delightful' sailing, but still waiting for the low pressure system to arrive
Update from British yachtsman Brian Thompson (48), crewman onboard maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V during their Jules Verne Trophy Record attempt:
07:30 1 February 2011 – Position 29S 38 30W
Still at the station waiting for the SE express train to pull in. Looks like it will be arriving tonight, though there are two different timetables on display, the European timetable is showing a direct service, and the US timetable is showing major engineering works and we could be taking the bus at times.
Translation: so the low is finally coming to us, but the two major weather models have widely divergent views on what is going to happen. Fingers crossed the European model is correct.
Otherwise its delightful sailing, no water on deck, now warm instead of hot. Still big gennaker and full mainsail. We have done several gybes each day, and all have gone like clockwork. Moved sails back and forward as the wind increased and dropped, and hoisted and lowered the staysail several times. Spending most of the time fine tuning the precise shape of the gennaker and the position of the main traveller and mainsheet.
Saw a green flash at sunset then another at sunrise, which I think is a first for me. A green flash (rayon vert on board) is when the top 5 percent of the sun turns green when only that piece is above the horizon. So the sun turns from yellow to a dayglow green just for a second. It’s caused by that very low sun shining though thousands of miles of atmosphere and the rest of the light spectrum being absorbed, leaving just the green. It can only happen when the visibility is really good and there are no clouds on the horizon where the sun is sinking, or rising.
The one in the morning was really distinct, and I was filming it on video, so hope it came out. Thierry and Yvon saw it as well, so I am not making it up, and not been at sea too long.
Looking forward to leaving the South American coastline and heading for Africa!
Bye for now.
For more information about Brian Thompson, please visit www.brianthompsonsailing.com.