Ups And Downs 17:29.4N 044:06.3W
Audaciter
ItchyFingers
Sun 11 Dec 2011 13:47
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Hi,
Funny old game this. The winds came as expected and
we are flying along but it is pretty hairy at times. There is a very fine
line on the compass either side of the bearing we want which, if overstepped
either makes the waves flap or pulls you round and out of control depending on
which way you go. Add into that large breaking waves all around and from all
directions and a huge swell and it is basically fun times at audaciter high. We
have abandoned fishing for the day and are just clinging on.
Fish catching day was a good day. The next day was not
and that is how it goes...good days and not so good days. Yesterday, we had the
genoa poled out and were spot on course when at around 5am the pole suddenly
unattached itself from the mast and was swinging around furiously. It had ripped
itself free from its block and had bent the metal. Bad. This meant that we had
to do the best we could without poling her out. Unfortunatley due to the
direction of the wind this would have set us on a course for either
Argentina or east coast of the states. Neither are ideal and when you take into
consideration the fact that we were going to have to gybe back in it added
another 3 days on our journey. Morale suddenly dropped and all was not well.
Don't get me wrong, this is an experience and an amazing one at that but I
really just want to get there now. We are 1000 miles from the nearest land mass
in any direction!
Anyway, Gareth and George got amongst fixing it and wee,
it's amazing what you can do with a screwdriver a rubber mallet and a set of
allen keys. That thing is going nowhere and we are back on course and should be
there over the weekend. The guys who made our mast, Selden, the best in the
business are going to get a proper earful when we get there. It's a
joke
Cheers
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