Day 3 Monday 6.7. After the storm is before the storm.

The ocean is very very blue right now. Cold and clear air. Warmth in the shelter of the cockpit. The sun makes it all easier out here. Today for me: Drying the skin and clothes after yesterday’s wind battle. Quite a bit of tension on the nerves when the boat slams hard and it gusts above 30. In a race around the world it’s quite likely to never be in 3rd reef, to never go upwind against such nasty stuff. I took it slow. Slowed down. Sat there next to the pilot and as soon as the boat wanted to start foiling I would head her more into the wind to slow down to prevent the nasty crashes into waves.

I still feel a bit of the tension. It just slowly gets out of the body. Usually it’s accompanied with a bit of a blue note and feeling alone. Today that’s better than usual. It’s more impatience. Wanting to be fast and quick back home with my new baby. Mentally this feels easier then usual - more like a coastal training. The next waypoint already in 3 days. That’s mentally very achievable. I will just be fully in the rhythm and arrived here on board on the high seas by then.  
The tack today took a really long time. Starting with lots of routings to decide the best moment, all the stacking, after that tuning into the new mode and finally cleaning up the messy ropes in the cockpit.

Now nothing is left. Then to sleep and catch up to the full energy level and sharpness. I would say I am at 60% now. Every activity takes a bit longer. The brain is slower. But I would not manage to lay down during the day. Don’t know why ... so many details to be looked after. Although I really didn’t sleep much at all yet. And when I slept - never got woken up by the alarm. Always before. Often only 10 mns. Checking the ais, the radar, the speed of the others... unfortunately I lost the leading pack on ais. Fortunately I am out of the coastal stuff ... and on the real ocean.

Earlier This morning I tacked very near the Irish coast. Wouldn’t have minded to scout out one of these little bays, anchor and hike to the next distillery. It’s such a nice sensation to sail on flat water after a day of hard pounding !
The ocean is still pretty wavy right here. It prevents the boat from picking up more speed. 

But she is at peace now. A small humming at the foil. A gentle roll with the swell. Just a few hours till we approach another low with strong winds starting at midnight again but only lasting till 5 in the morning. The rest after that is 2 more tacks and light to medium upwind fetching. Looking forward to tomorrow morning after the storm. Hoping to gain some miles back on the front. But not inclined to risk anything. We still need this boat! Once we are through the next 2 nights we are somewhat in what I would call the north. Above the track of the typical lows. Very short nights. Cold. I am looking forward to that. I will speak to the gods of the north in my dream.