Half Way
Beoga's Madventure
Henry and Marina Lupton
Mon 30 Nov 2009 17:59
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Well the distance to go is half the given
overall distance. I reckon we've added a few miles to that. We certainly
did last night. Wind shifted during my watch to pretty much due east. We were on
a starboard tack and that meant aiming more west instead of south west.In
essence we were heading to America instead of the carribean. SInce we are
cruising we arent into getting everyone up in the middle of the night to gybe so
by this morning we were back north of the 21st parallel despite having crossed
it earlier.Frustrating to be going in the wrong
direction but we gybed this morning and hoisted the kite again. The benefit fo
having gone far west was that we have a great angle to the current wind which is
blowing 20-25 knots. Steering is tiring and since the sail is on the right hand
side its not sheltering us from the sun as it has up until now but we are
honking along since 9am when we hoisted. Did 60 miles in 6 hours. Much
as I'd like to keep it up we will be conservative and take in the spinnaker for
the night unless we see a significant drop in wind speed. As ever the
weather and positions come in as I send this.
So half way. Expected to find a big X in the sea or
as Dermot said a petrol station with a sign saying last stop for 1350 miles.
"Last of the wrapping paper and sail rope!"
Nothing there though and still no company although
Cormac spotted a brief appearance on the AIS system which picks the postion of
big boats and shows where they are going and how fast. Small boats have them too
and we fitted one, as most ARC boats seem to have, before we left.
We really are a long way from everywhere
now.
We left Galway in a hurry to catch good weather but
my sister Ger still managed to put a halfway goodie pack on board for us that we
just opened with our celebratory cranberry juice again (not sure if its cos it
looks like wine or cos we just have a bunch of it) The pack included M&Ms
(cormac the cookie monster will be pleased), rescue remedy (my sister is the
family witch you see) to pick us up and echinacia (or euthansia as I call it) to
ward off all ails. Pa and Mir had also left greetings for half way which should
involve the use of a guitar but the boat is going from roundey roundey and
roley poley to upsy downsy and no guitar would survive. I am getting in trouble
for not using nautical terminology.Its a habit from having new folk out
when we are in renville, if you dont know sailing or you do and dont know the
boat then its just easier to say pull the blue rope. Cormac
and I were roaring from the bow to free off the green rope on the left when
3 people went to the right- it seems folk know starboard from port better than
left and right but its my fault- hmph...
Ger's potions may be needed yet though. Marie and
Barra got us sorted out with a very comprehensive first aid kit before we left
and thank God only anti seasickness, antihistamine and a few plasters have
been used so far. However my sister inlaw Aine who is also a Doc recommended
Germoline ointment for minor stuff since it has some numbing properties. Welllll
it was in use 5 or 6 times a day. Rope burns, bumped knees, cut fingers the list
goes on and on but the germoline was wiped on each time ( anyone see My Big
Fat Greek Wedding- well its like the windowlene). Anyway, todays drama,
the Germoline made it to the cockpit and made a run for it. Some flying fish
will have spotted it using their newly acquired pair of reading
spec donated by Lara and will have made off with it. You would be
surprised at the level of grief.but Im sure some marine family will be making
equal good use of it.
In the middle of the middle way celebration,
delighted with ourselves when a big bang declared the end of a pulley block from
the spinnaker rope. A reminder of the loads that are on the boat. I had a spare
but its sobering.
Monday is also the start of week 2 and the food has
been packed in week sections. New cereal, yipee ( Im a man of simple tastes) and
less fresh food (not helped by the fact that one of us knocked off the fridge by
accident in the last couple of days so some bits went off in there too. To
save on space Joan and Lara disposed of a lot of outer packing making some
things a lucky dip. Written on a pack this morning was, "if you havn't guessed
what it is by now - stop eating it".
We provide the best of facilities on board Beoga,
Marina had a reflexology session a la Lara yesterday to help her bad back. Today
she discovered we have a bidet! We close the inlets and outlets to things like
the toilet for the obvious reason that they are openings to the ocean and less
obvious reasons that the one we have is badly designed and can syphon back up.
We havent bothered closing the tap from the sink drain to the outside since it
was so high up. While showering this morning in our sled ride she spotted the
sea gushing up the sink drain. New rule on the sea cocks me thinks.
God almighty what are they at up top. Boat just
went all over the place and is shaking as well as the roley,pitchey, etc. Cormac
spotted a surfable wave I reckon. Its hard to avoid today i admit they are
crying out to be surfed upon but if ya over do it then someone else has to dump
rope like crazy until the boat comes back upright.
Winches grinding, they are going for it
again......
Boat picks up, Im in the aft cabin and can hear the
rush off the stern - gushing building. its the ideal point of sailing. Hoping we
can keep the angle for longer. Will know soon, when todays weather comes in. A
trough is developing ahead of us which would interrupt these trade wind
conditions and potential give us head winds followed by little wind. This
is normal for this time of year when the trade winds are not fully established.
By christmas they settle into a more regular pattern we are told.
Now at 20:44.8N 39:05.2W
Dermot thinking of using channel 16: Supermacs,
Supermacs, Supermacs this is Beoga.
Silence.
Transmission Ends. |