Another splendid day! Stiff wind (20-25kn), fast reaching on a huge sea. The surface of the sea is quite choppy, with waves from all directions the boat bounces over. Underneath these waves is a ridiculously huge swell; in an attempt to estimate the height I climbed the mast to the lower spreader, but from there was by far not able to look over the top of the next wave when the boat was in a trough. So I estimate the height at at least 6 meters. Rather impressive!

Occasionally the boat just takes off, surfing down these big waves. Regularly she hits 11 or 12 knots. De Franschman will quite easily plane at speeds in that range. The highest speed, until last week, was 15.3. That was set back in 1998, the first year that the boat went to sea. Amazingly, it took til last week to improve on that. This being not a race, and the middle of the Atlantic makes me a bit more careful than I would have been closer to a shore. But conditions were just right: a gust, a little too much sail, and the perfect wave. The boat just accelerated and didn't stop, just went faster and faster. And I was in my sleeping bag, looking at the speedometer going up and up, all the way to 16.7! Waw! And nothing much happened; after this mighty surf the boat returned to more normal speeds, and I quickly put a reef in!

Bart

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