GryphonSolo2: Approaching France

Current position - GryphonSolo2 © GryphonSolo2

It's Friday night and the sun is not setting here until 10:15 PM as we cruise towards the coast of France. Quite nice sailing that I believe Roger and I have earned after 2 weeks plus of big air on the nose. We are still battling mystery leaks in various places throughout the boat and look forward to removing everything for a clean and inspection.

I have been in touch with Globe40 race management to line up a sailmaker and rigger that will help us put the boat back together after what looks like will be a 19-day passage across a very rough and inhospitable North Atlantic in May. I was thinking that the last leg of the race will be from Grenada to Lorient in March 2023, so we may be revisiting these conditions fairly soon!

My co-skipper Roger Junet and I have worked very well together in difficult conditions over the past three weeks so that bodes well for the race. I think a few of the other Globe 40 boats - Amhas and Whiskey Jack that I know of - are also in transit and should arrive in France around when we do. It will be great to meet the skippers and co-skippers of the other 6 boats in the race this week and I am sure we will become a tight-knit group after sailing around the world together.

Lastly, we have sad news to report that our bird friend Jenny passed away yesterday unexpectedly. She seemed to be doing well- eating and pooping- and we looked forward to bringing her to France, but we could not get her to drink water so perhaps dehydration and certainly very harsh living conditions were too much for a little bird so far from shore. We will miss her.

For more information visit www.gryphonsolo2.com.