Sailing around the World.
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 17 Jan 2011 09:56
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SUNDAY 16th JANUARY
2011
We had light airs all night, so progress was slow,
as it was for most other boats, in fact we caught up with " Wild
Tigres"
but as soon as we drew level with them, they
started their engine and motored out of sight over the horizon.
09.00hrs RADIO CALL " Lady Eve V1
" was the radio net controller today, reception was poor, but we managed to get
the positions of all boats, we did well again
last night.
there are some boats about 300 miles or so behind
us now, not counting the late starters.
By now the wind had increased to 18 / 20 knots so
we were clawing our way back to the rum line slowly.
It was turning into a beautifull day as skipper sat
down to do the Blog.
Next thing , BANG, .............. what the
****,.... S looked out the fwd saloon window, Ohh no, not again,
the Kite had ripped
across the top and the whole lot was fluttering
nicely in the breeze, Skipper got Sham out of the scratcher
and together we managed to snuff the Kite and
return it to its bag on deck....
This spinniker work will be the death of us
yet......or perhaps it will keep us fit and younger. ( the wish list
)
Ohhhhhhh, Skipper could cry, that sail which he
really loves is again in tatters, ( Tear drops keep falling on the
.............. ? )
We reset the sails and had a broad starboard reach
for most of the day,
We spent the day taking naps again, reading,
cleaning and telling stories about the good old days sailing around to the
schull and
west cork areas,
Skipper remembers one particular night racing "
Bunty " in an overnight race from Cork harbour to Baltimore, on board were
skipper,
brother Rom, Dave o Rielly and one or two more, ( all this must have been about
45 years ago or more )
The wind died off at the kedges, just outside
Baltimore harbour, and as we did not have an engine, we relied on our floor
boards.
we took up two floor boards from the cabin floor
and paddled the boat around the corner into baltimore and finished first boat
across the line.
" Bunty" was designed and built in 1905 in Cobh of
white deal, a different timber to what you would get now. real hard wood,
She was a gunther rig, ( thats where the gaff is
like an extension to the mast, very much like the rig on a mirror dingy
)
The boat was very flat underneath, with a fin keel
and a lead bulb on the bottom. a design 60 years ahead of its time.
Bunty had a huge mainsail for the size of the
boat, ( 29 feet , excluding the 6 foot bowsprit ) and she weighed only 3
tons,
Therefore she was lightning fast and had a rudder
the size of a door, so could turn on a sixpence,
We really enjoyed that boat, leaks and
all.
Interestingly enough, Bob Geldoff's father was
manager of the " Grand Hotel " in crosshaven way back when , He told skipper
this
one night at a function held at the " National
motor YC " in Dunlaoighre in 1983 or 1984, and also said that he used to sail
on
Bunty with John Hyde and did I know him, Yeah
like, just happens to be my father,
Needless to mention we had a lorry load of guinness
to celebrate the occasion, which did nothing for the j24 racing next
day.
Later, we got the news that our favourate rugby
team " Munster " got hammered by " Toulon " ohhhhh more tears,
gosh we are like " Pete the Piddling pup " with all
the tears,
Later in the afternoon, we could see " Wild
Tigress" again on the horizon, well blow us down , we know from the Radio
Call
this morning that they motored for 10 hours last
night, while we struggled in the light airs, and here we are again, with
this 76 foot swan in our
sights once
more,,, yupeeeeeeeee.
20.00hrs, Emily did a chicken dish for dinner,
Skipper has chicken poisoning at this stage, so had some of the heated up
goulash
from last night with cool creamed potatoes, again
part of last nights left overs.
Meanwhile, the Lady of the Ship, The A from "
A Lady" has gone bonkers on knitting again, clickity, clickity all day,
What is being made, ....... a
secrete, ..........
but Skipper and Sham were very dissapointed to
learn that whatever it was , it was not "willie warmers" for the two boys to
keep them warm on these cold nights,
waaaaah,
Night shifts / watches
:- Aileen ..............................21.00hrs /
00.00hrs
Skipper............................00.00hrs / 03.00hrs
Sham...............................03.00hrs / 06.00hrs
Emily...............................06.00hrs / 09.00hrs
Thats it for today,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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