Sailing around the World ( presently at Sea between The Coco's Islands and Maritius.)

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 29 Sep 2010 05:34
TUESDAY   28th   SEPTEMBER   2010     (  Day   2  at Sea )
 
We had a very cloudy night with plenty of heavy showers and huge sea's rolling in behind us all night,
Its not a great feelig to hear all these waves breaking around the boat and not see a thing as it was so dark. and of course
the occasional one would crash over the deck and into the cockpit.
 
Generally, it was a miserable night at sea.
However we could see another 5 boats around us, so we were not the only ones having a bad time.
 
09.00hrs  Radio Net :-   Todays broadcast was by " Brown Eyed Girl " and we could hardly hear them as they were so far ahead, having left
with the earlier boats.  We only got the position of some yachts, and as we were one of the last to leave, we are plonked at the back of the fleet for a change.
Distance travelled :- 133 miles,
 
By midday, the rain was torrential and no let up, but we kept going SSW as suggested by Bruce, our weather advisor.  down to 15:30 South,
At one stage, the wind dissapeared altogether, and we had to motor for a short while before Skipper and Neil had to get out on
the deck in absolutly pissing rain and shorten sail, reefs into everything.   Ohhhhh this is afull .....
 
The wind went all over thhe place and a few times we did complete circles..  can you just imagine,,  going around in circles..........its funny
but not funny.
Eventually, 2 hours later, when things settled down , we had a shower and put on some dry clothes,  But the big problem with
down wind sailing in these conditions is the wind and rain just blows straight into the cockpit.   Dave and Sue in " Voyageur" have done
a great job on their boat, they have detachable  sides  to their Bimini,  and this keeps the rain out in situations like this.
 
16.30 hrs   Lunch / dinner was an easy Lasagne with rice , peas and chilly sauce to add a kick to the rice.
 
Later we did some emails and sat there reading while we sailed along in missery,  RAIN, Rain, rain and more rain
emails from Paul Tetlow, Leah, and Margaret How gave us a lift and improved the quality of the day.
 
We kept in touch with " Voyageur" and" Tzigany"  during the rest of the day, It was great to have someone else to chat to on and off.
 
18.00hrs   Distance travelled......................................212 n miles
                Distance to Destination............................2088 n miles
                Our ETA................................................Sunday  10/10/10
 
Aileen got sick,   Thats the first ever she got sick on a boat,  she does not do that, so we assume she had some sort of bug.
The rest of us decided we would do the night shifts between us and she could stay in bed.  rocking and rolling.
Blooming misserable...
 
night shifts  :-         22.00hrs  /  01.00hrs ...........................................Terry,
                             01.00hrs  /  04.00hrs............................................Skipper
                             04.00hrs  /  07.00hrs  ...........................................Neil
 
 
Thats all for today,
 
 
Signed :-   Stephen Hyde    ( Skipper )