16:00.13N
55:56.64W
Sunday 4th December – 2330
GMT
This has been a most frustrating and tiring
day. Shortly after the last blog posting at a little after midnight today
we were hit by a very large squall. Squalls are a fact of life and no
weather forecast can help you much beyond saying that there is a reasonable
probability of their happening. This one was different in that it was more violent than most, there was a
lot of rain and it took a good hour to pass through us. During that time
all that Tim, at the helm, could do was drive off downwind with it - which, of
course, prolonged our acquaintance with it. Moreover, we were trying to go
west and were driven north at considerable speed. We'd had Percy up and
getting him down in strong winds and darkness is not a lot of fun. So, we had to
wait until the worst had gone before we did so and were able to return to our
intended track. In the meantime, some of the distance we'd made up on
Cochise disappeared.
The rest of today has been spent battling with
very fickle winds. They ought to be coming from the east or ESE. So
they have been for some of the time. In these circumstances Percy is
hauled up from below decks and invited to romp at the mast head. That
takes a good 20 minutes of pretty hard work from everyone aboard - on watch or
not. That works for a bit - but not very long. Because the weather
gods, fully aware of what we're up to in trying to get west at best speed,
delight in frustrating the ambition. They send the winds in from the south
at considerable speed. What fun it must be forcing yachts to turn at
right angles to their intended course and struggle to recover one set of sails
and replace them with another. And, just a soon as they've done that
they'll send the little devil they employ to badger the skipper. "Look",
he'll say "The wind has gone back again. You could fly your spinnaker
again. And, you know you'd go a good knot faster. Now, how far ahead
did you say XYZ was?"
Tonight we've put Percy to
bed. As a result I wouldn't be surprised if the entire night is squall
free. Tough - we're through with being the playthings of the childish
weather gods. We'll all feel a lot better for a reasonably undisturbed
night with just the normal watches to worry about.
