Skipper's log: Samantha Davies (Britain), Initiatives-Cœur (IMOCA)

This is dream sailing - in the Trade Winds, big spinnaker up and sending it downwind at 20 knots! Yee-ha this is fun :-D
The only down side of a fast boat is that it is wet! All the time. So we’re not yet drying out. It’s warmed up a lot so now the inside of our boat is a sauna. Although maybe the smell is not quite like that of a traditional sauna ! ;-) We’re not complaining though because it’s fast and fun. 
We hand steer In the day and the first half of the night (that is lit by the moon) because it’s a bit faster. Helming is fun, but a bit risky - I just had a near miss with a (low flying) flying fish that landed in the cockpit after passing millimeters from my nose on its way past! There is no moon during the second half of the night so then we let the pilot drive (and he’s doing a pretty good job with the big kite in 20-25 it TWS!) Taking it on turns on deck we sleep 1h30 to stay alert on watch..
Once the moon has set, with no clouds and no light pollution out here in the ocean, we are privileged with a breathtaking night sky, full of stars - simply beautiful. For one near miss with a flying fish I already have two shooting stars just in the last hour! Definitely worth taking the risk to stick my head out from under the cockpit frime time to time.

Sam