Sailing around the World
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Thu 4 Nov 2010 04:49
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WEDNESDAY 3rd
NOVEMBER 2010 ( Day 5
at Sea )
00.00hrs Another beautifull night at Sea, but miss
a full moon. However , the wind is steadily increasing
so we drcided to take down the " Bag of Fear " anjd
set up a goose wing, ie headsail out on a port pole , mainsail out to
starboard
and the staysail inbetween. The wind was now
blowing a steady 26knots from the E.
06.00hrs As mentioned previously, there is a
lot of ships passing at all times, but now, with Aileen and Skipper on
deck
a container ship passed just a mere 300m away, and
that was after we altering course. For us , that was too blinking
close.
Sunrise was spectacular, this huge ball of fire
creeping up over the eastern horizon, words cannot describe the
view......
The waypiont is just 8 miles NW of our
position and we now have a 1,5 knot current pushing us along.
Richards Bay is plus 20 degrees to starboard, ( Or
as Terry says, to the right please. ), But we do not change course
for the moment
as the wind will not suit us,
06.30hrs, We passed the waypoint,, We
have sailed 636 n miles so far on this trip, that is almost 100 miles more
than the direct route,
but , thats what happens when the winds
are not suitable..... Zig ,zag down the route. adding all those miles to
the journey.
The course to Richards Bay is now 255 degrees T ,
and a distance of 808 miles..
09.00hrs Radio Transmission, Today "
Tzigane " is the radio net controller, Jenny did the buisness and was
excellent,
later we spoke to some of the other boats behind on
the SSB radio and they were still struggling with adverse currents and lack
of wind,
meanwhile we are scooting along with everything
going our way, happy bunnies.
11.00hrs Distance travelled
..........................675.5 n miles ( 194 miles in the
last 24 hrs. )
Distance to destination ...................772.6 n miles
Weather , a good clear day, but very windy and choppy seas,
we spent the day reading, playing Backgammon,
having naps, and generally fiddeling around the boat, checking the rig, the
sails,
and the boat in general..... We gave up on
the fishing as we were out of wire traces and lures, ( manmade fish or
octopus with big hooks )
15.00 We reached our half way point to
Richards bay, As we say, its down hill from here.
The seas have moderated , the current is across us
from SE to NW , and the wind is still 26 / 28 knots. and
the sun is shining.
Skipper is having a lot of trouble with the
computer, so had to ring " Arnaud " our french man at home who looks after our
I.T.
Arnaud also informed us of impending galeforce
winds, which skipper passed onto the fleet,
We also got this information from Sandro on " Lady
Lisa " who got it from a German station.
19.00 hrs We had a goulash dinner by
skipper, this included steak, lot of onions, pineapple, carrots, garlic, soya
sauce and other bits,
plus rice, A one bowl dinner, suitable for
the sea conditions prevailing.
Dessert, was an Aileen boat made Jelly and cream ,
simple and delicious.
We definatly will not get jelly belly from this
food....................
21.00hrs, We covered 208 n miles in the last
24hours up to 21.00hrs tonight.............yipeeeeeeee
22.00 hrs, Things were beginning to heat up.
the wind was now 35 / 38 knots, so we reefed the mainsail ( 2 reefs
) and the headsail ( 3 reefs )
and the staysail ( 2 reefs ) and
we were still sailing merrily along at 9.5 knots.....and now, were making great
progress.
Skipper was on first watch tonight, (
10.00hrs to 12 ,00hrs ) followed by Neil, Terry, Collette, and
Aileen on the 6 to 8 watch,
However, its never that simple, and every one has
to get out of the scratcher at different times during the night, usually when
skipper
wants something done in a
hurry........
Well, Thats it for today,
Signed :- Stephen Hyde , ( Skipper
)
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