Fast sailing en route to the doldrums

I must admit to looking at the front of the fleet with some envy at the moment. Sitting at 16N with still around 600 miles (just under two days) to go to where the doldrums should and could be; I have watched the front half of the fleet just sail straight through and I wonder if my fate will be quite so good. I headed West a couple of days ago not only to get into slightly stronger breeze but also in the hope that should a gaping wind hole open up in the doldrums before we got there I would have more options to find a way through.

My current forecast shows the route straight through taken by the front 2/3 of the fleet to be closing up and so I am trying to work a game plan; there are many miles to be gained or lost in negotiating this area.

The sailing at the moment is pure, clean, fast. During the day yesterday it was overcast but at night while clouds still lingered on the horizon, overhead opened up to a beautiful star strewn sky, so unblemished by other light. It is hot and close down below with no ventilation so it's been great to be on deck at night time, looking at the stars, feeling the cool air against my skin while my feet are constantly awash with the waves that roll down the deck and into the cockpit. Following my hydrogen mishaps I have become a super tidy sailor and am constantly on 'loose rope' patrol tucking away anything that might get washed down the cockpit drains to ensure it doesn't end up around the hydrogens.

Medallia has always been a difficult boat to sail tidy. All the ropes come to two places, one on each side of the cockpit and it is exactly the same place that the water rushes over when a big wave comes down the deck. In the last couple of months we managed to squeeze an extra rope back underneath the primary winches but even with this it is a squeeze to get all the ropes in and you can be sure if there is a job to be done then the rope you need is at the bottom of the pack. Still at the moment it is not hard work to come up on deck and make regular inspections and tidy. I think it will be harder to find this motivation in the South.

I spent a full day yesterday on maintenance and inspections, looking for problems before they happen, crawling around the inside of the boat with my head torch, a knife and some spanners. It's sort of pleasing to find something wrong – a nut a bit loose, a bit of chafe – because you can put it right and know it is a problem averted. It got too hot to work in the middle of the day though so I moved my beanbag outside to the 'conservatory' and had a nap in the shade there.

Today we keep pushing south, keep trying to keep the speeds up and get down to the doldrums. We wait and watch the forecast unfold. It's good to be racing in our little pack, I can feel the pressure from Didac and Manuel, it keeps us all fast I think.