Tuesday 24th November (Brindabella)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Sat 12 Dec 2009 19:31

 

Day 3

   My crew were more rested this morning and straight after breakfast they gybed my mainsail then spent some time sorting lines to pole out my headsail on the other side. Simon says I’m short on winches and cleats. Puh! Lini’s short, full stop!! Well I showed them: Admittedly I did have ropes tied to anything secure around my cockpit but my speed increased by half to one knot enabling me to catch up a little after our very slow night. We may have been slow but news of accidents in the night made us glad we were cautious. We counted our blessings.

Conditions today have improved no end with flatter seas and calmer more steady wind. Lini also improved after returning to bed this morning with neck pain and a colossal headache. The SSB radio net however was somewhat crackly and I failed to receive my weather report. Si had to go online and download a GRIB file. I also had some problems transmitting on VHF so we swapped the handsets round.

   Chores are fitting into their daily routine with Lini doing today’s check on my rigging and finding a rotten orange at the bottom of my net during the veg check. Si’s chafe inspection called for some acrobatics on my pulpit while he taped my genoa sheets. Lini held her breath as although they are strapped onto me at all times, she would have troubles hauling him back on board.

A girl doesn’t like to complain but boy was I glad when the pair of them had showers this afternoon! Smelling infinitely sweeter they ate then prepared for my third night at sea. I developed a nasty knocking noise in the night and reefed the sails deeply as a precaution.

Breakfast – Kiwi, grapes+ yoghurt – Mushrooms on toast.

Lunch – Tomato and basil salad with basil croutons.

Happy hour – Guacamole+ crackers.

Dinner – Stir fried chicken and veg in black bean sauce with rice.