Another Adventurous Day

Adventure_iceland
Thu 27 Mar 2008 14:29
49:55.82N 000:44.24W
 

 

 

 

I am part of the Blue watch, which consists of Anne, Linda, Peter, Mike and of course yours truly.  So far, our watch appears to have done relatively well in the sea sickness stakes.  I believe we have the top contender (for most overboard deposits) out of both watches, but then the remainder of our watch appear to be coping remarkably well, which doesn’t seem to be true for Red watch (some though seem to be on the up). I believe that much of the sickness can be attributed to an evil tea towel hanging at the wrong angle in the galley. As for me, I personally opted for the chemical defence strategy which seems to be working so far.

 

Being a complete sailing novice I have found things to be somewhat ‘interesting’ with more to learn than my brain is willing to take in.  On top of that of course, getting dressed, eating, crewing and self-maintenance all take place at the oddest of angles which keeps the brain entertained trying to manage the balance sensation as well as general co-ordination.

 

During the daylight hours of one of our watches I was pleased to be given the opportunity of helming the yacht – it’s a novel experience driving a 50 ton vessel heeled over at an angle that the over active brain believes is defying physics despite understanding the theory of how it all works.  There is certainly a sense of freedom, power and fun, but that all has to be wrapped up in deep concentration for the novice helmsman.  It turns out helming is a lot trickier than it looks as there is a lot to take in – potential collisions, maintaining course (generally with nothing more than the horizon or some clouds for a point of reference), keeping an eye on the wind direction, and probably a whole lot more.

 

I wasn’t too sure about our first late night watch, but it turned out to be a pleasant evening after all.  We were on from 2300 to 0300.  We played spot the vessel and guess the cardinal as part of our learning.

 

We’ve just completed the morning shift, where we learned the valuable lessons of good preparation and talking to one another.  During a tack I was lucky enough to discover the foresail sheet had been loaded incorrectly on to the winch – no surprises I nearly gave myself a hernia trying haul in on that sheet! Thanks to the skipper for spotting it in time.

 

It’s time to get some shuteye in my coffin (which is also tricky but something for another blog entry).

 

Oh – and if you’ve ever wondered what the skipper gets up to while we’re all hard at work on deck….    

 

      

 

 

Byrne G