CALISO SUNDAY 9TH DECEMBER - CATCH UP
CALISO
Mark
Sun 9 Dec 2007 12:15
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HEADLINE NEWS - SKIPPER CAUGHT RED-HANDED SNEAKING
TIN OF BEANZ FOR MIDNIGHT FEAST
hard to believe i know, but check out the photo.
first we were going to keel haul him for theft of precious provisions, but
seeing as he has been an exceptionally good skipper in recent days (or more
particularly nights) we have forgiven him and although we had to take the beanz
away from him - after all we have had more than enough wind of recent - see
story below - dave has cooked a wonderful full english (albeit with german
bockwurst sausages) with beanz this morning, so crew and skipper are happy
again. the sun is shining, the sky mostly clear, foulies are hanging
everywhere to dry and bob has just got the finish line out. we still have
the huge chunk of tuna but that is frozen and we can have that anytime.
lisa and i have cleaned the heads for the first time in 3 days and everyone is
feeling upbeat again.
yesterday i was so dog tired (as was everyone) that
i couldn't bring myself to type hardly anything, but as i've just announced on
deck after breakfast, i could feel a blog moment coming on. it was hard to
tear myself away from the sun, but hopefully it will still be there when i have
finished this.
to recap on the last few days, friday was white,
windy and wet most of the day and we had another day of hanging around or
sleeping in the sticky heat. our bedding is now totally rank from sweating
so much. i am dreaming of crisp white clean sheets. friday first
night shift was mark and i and we spent the whole 4 hours scouring the skies
trying to make out what was coming from where and more importantly what was
going to hit us. the sky was black everywhere, not a cloud in sight and on
the first shift we had a boat record speed of 15.6 knots!! we also had 44
knots of wind. we had lightning coming from all corners and everyone on
board was told to avoid contact with anything metal. i went down at 12 to
a bed where the only thing to hold onto is the mast which i had to avoid at all
costs. before long all three men were on deck, torrential rain, more
lightning. lisa came down and becky never went up as the lads did a 2 at a
time shift system. wait for it - they had winds of up to 55 knots - that's
gale force 9/bordering 10. not one person on board has every experienced
such high winds. for the half hour or so that bob and i where in bed
together we were struggling just to stay in and finally it became physically
impossible to stay in without holding the mast and as two of us crashing into
the lee cloth would probably have torn that out, bob went on deck and i put my
sleeping bag on the floor in the forward cabin and dozed fitfully amoungst my
foulies, life jacket and various other stuff that had been thrown to the
floor. meanwhile on deck the main was out as far as it could go and as we
didn't want to broach (sails in the water) mark decided to take down the main -
which was probably his most important sailing decision ever. since then we
have had reports of all sorts of broken booms and even a mast down. once
the main was gone, it was all still pretty scary - the boat was swerving round
the waves like crazy and it was the longest night any of us have ever lived
through. still, thank goodness, morning arrived, the crew had hardly slept a
wink but caliso had come through it. at this point i do have to say that
we have the best possible skipper in the world. throughout the madness he
stayed calm, decisive and totally in control. instructions were clear and
we all felt safe even though it was scary at the same time.
saturday was sent trying to catch up on sleep with
more rain and white/gray/black skies and squalls. we had a shift system
going all through the day and then on into the night. all full foulies,
life jackets and harnesses all day. last night we were expecting the worst
again. we had since had weather reports and basiclly there were about 4
thunder storms on going near us - we were slightly to the south of one and just
continued south all day in the hope of getting a bit of distance between it and
us. we were told this front/low is going west the same way as us and we
just didn't want to be in it until thursday. it might still come back and
bite us a bit again, but we will be prepared this time. last time the
forecast only warned of squally showers. last night the main was taken
down in daylight and we were ready for whatever was thrown at us again.
the worst we got last night was 45 knots - which sounds ridiculous, but actually
it's not so bad - 30-40 has become the norm. bob and becky had the first
shift 8-12 and got completel soaked through. they also saw a cruise liner
(which at first they thought was the moon come back!) and more lightening.
mark and i then went on for 12-4am and we got soaked for at least 2 hours - with
horrible biting slanting rain that you just couldn't hide away from - we also
had about 3 big waves come over. we therefore got cold and decided to make
a mid-shift cup of tea and have some maltesers. just the ticket.
this will sound wierd but because of the night before we didn't mind the rain,
the winds stayed at around 30-42k and then odd stars started coming out. i
cannot describe the joy of seeing stars - clearing sky - at least temporarily
and then we got excited each time a star appeared. some went again and
more drizzle came but we went below dryer slightly that bob and becky.
dave and lisa had the early morning shift and their wind got up to 45k and they
took the head sail in even more. i walked into our cabin just in time to
see bob catapulted into the lee cloth for what he says was the 5th time that
night. i therefore decided to try our the saloon where dave has been
sleeping and i must say, with the help of two cushions, my sleeping bag and my
pillow i managed to wedge myself in so tight that although i had three position
changes as different bits fo my body went to sleep, is slept quite well.
earlier before my shift i was so shattered that i slept so soundly that when bob
came down to warn me about the lighting and the mast, he couldn't rouse me at
all, but as i was well away from the mast he left me. so i feel quite
caught up. the day before i had had the early shift 4-8am and then so
sleep and then the early evening shift of 8-12 and no sleep and some dozing on
the floor, so i am not surprised that i zonked. mark was feeling
incredibly tired a few days ago, but he said he slept brilliantly yesterday and
even came on deck at 11pm, went back to bed and went out like a light again
until 12 when our shift began. so all in all, we are all feeling much
better. what a difference the sun makes. it might not stay all day
but we know what to do now and i'm pretty sure the main will be down at night
for a few more nights to come. we are now at 660 miles to go. we
have loads of celebrations to catch up on, a meridian, 2/3rd of the way, under
1,000 miles to go and later today we will have crossed the 2,000 mile
mark.
last night becky made us corned beef hash and beanz
which although it looked like baby food, went down an absolute treat and we all
really enjoyed it.
none of us expected this to be quite so hard as it
has been in recent days, but everyone has pulled their weight, our skipper is
brill and the morale is great. i think that's about it. more news
tomorrow.
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