Hi Ray,
Yes, there was a bit of a flattening off in the ODM climb rate at about 40000ft at that weight. Those who tried to get up to FL430 wasted a lot of fuel; we learned this on trips to Goose which were a bit tight at times with 98+8. Hence a climb to FL390, a short cruise, then up to FL430 before the oceanic boundary gave us a bit more fuel at top of drop....
And wasn't boat-spotting so $odding awfully boring! 27 were welcome to it!