Gears, nets, and the rail

Ok... so yesterday's 0800 position report left us a bit down.. hard to give
up that many miles so fast to your competitors and not go... WTF..
Obviously, they had a gear we didn't have or at least couldn't find. So..
we mashed gears a bit more yesterday afternoon before we found one we think
works.. at least it feels good.

Just as we found that gear.. after passing 26 rubber plastic fishing
balls.. we caught something on the keel causing an interesting flutter
through the boat. Had to take down our new found gear and sail backwards
for a while. 3' x 8' piece of net. Man this Pacific Ocean has a lot of
trash in it.

Overcast most of the day.. sundown brought some wind and we found the
rail.. put R2 up on it and blasted away. Found that extra gear.. where she
jumps to 20 kts boat speed in 23 kts of wind... and only 1 meter seas.
Funny thing.. its then that you know you are at a winning pace, and its
then you don't care one bit about the "race".. just the exhilaration of
riding a thoroughbred through her paces.

Data.