Way back at the start of the race, in the difficult conditions of a bad seaway six of the fleet, including us, missed a buoy that was supposed to be respected and left to starboard. We were notified of the infringement that afternoon. Finally this morning, the Jury assessed its penalty for the six boats, 30 minutes. This means that each boat that missed the buoy has to, according to the race committee, set a waypoint agreed to by the committee, sail to it, turn around, sail somewhere else for 30 minutes, and then come back through that exact point at least 30 minutes later. The penalty had to be taken before we reached 1 degree East Longitude, which means that it has to be done in the next week or so.

I decided to do my penalty this afternoon, otherwise I’d just think about it until it was done. Also, since had manageable sails up–staysail and 2 reefs in the main–it made sense to do it now. So I contacted Race Committee, set a point, went through it, bore off, rolled up the staysail, gybed, realized I wouldn’t be able to get back upwind without the staysail, rolled it out, moved the keel to center, headed north for about 15 minutes, then gybed back,  came through the point about 36 minutes later, and headed south again. I contacted the Race Committee again, confirmed with them that I “paid” the penalty, and now that’s all done.

Ran the desalinatior this afternoon also. Yesterday, I’d spent time trying to seal the leak in the scoop intake system that feeds the diesel and the motor. My repair seems to have worked, as the leak area is dry. That’s good. Now we’ll see if it holds.

Current sails: Solent and 2 reefs, making 12 knots on the GPS. Will try to get some rest now.