What a Start!! Oh What a start!
Cruinneag
Mon 21 Nov 2011 16:02
Ready to go!
I have been sailing the good ship Cruinneag for over 2 years ... Nick the Skipper for 45 years and I think I can safely say that yesterday was the old girls best sail yet!!! Being classic rigged it takes a wee while to hoist all the canvas so we hid in a corner, a little too near the commercial port for the port police's liking (oops!) and got the main, mizzen and staysail up and then sailed out to the line. The old Gardner was on and idling (we don't manouvre quickly, no classic does so this is a sensible safety measure when that many boats are around!) and 2 minutes from the start we're right on the weather mark, up went the working Gib and we got over the start beautifully without issues. We set a course away from the rest of the fleet to make sure we had plenty of space and ticked along beautifully at 7+ knots for the first stretch...and then cameth the wind...over 25 knots, we jibbed around and set a course for the south side of the island...kept all the sails up and took off!!!!!!!! Right into the night we were blasting along averaging 9 knots...no spinnaker required - mizzen, full mainsail, two headsails...the old gal flew!! Wonderful wonderful sail!!
An age old tradition aboard is the 6pm happy hour and Trev got first responsibility at that...can I note that Trev is from Glasgow and his 'bar' was TK Macs (as in Trevor and Karen - and then Mac as in scottish) and the drink of choice was 'A Ginger Winger' - a taste of the Bahamas with a dash of ginger jockanese misery!! I'll say no more!
Dinner duties for the first evening fell to husband and wife Stephen and Susan Pickles who jointly concocted a very delicious Pork with an apple, cream and wine reduction! slurp! followed by baked pineapple drizzled with caramel and cream. Ah yes...so far we are doing this in style.
As dinner was being prepared I complained that I hadn't had time to wash my hair before leaving and so Trevor reminded me that there was no excuse for dirty hair onboard a yacht stocked with waterless (bed bath!) shower kits...so within seconds my locks are tucked into what can only be described as a shower cap but with the consistency of a clean babies nappy (that thick padded feeling). A good massage later and it had the consistency of a wet nappy! off it came off and...well...what can I say...I have an afro!!! and I swear there is a blue rinse tinge to it! But hey...it's not greasy and smells...like a hospital toilet! That's a good smell isn't it!!
With my new stylish hairdo I joined Trevor on deck for our first night watch of the trip. The wind had died as we were well into the lee of the south side of gran canaria so the engine was on and we were getting a breeze from the south although expecting it to change no-one figured it would be quite so dramatic!! First sign was the wind swinging from south to north gently...we were close hauled so I just had to tack the Gib and the rest of the sails self tacked...so off I trot to the pointy end to do that and by the time I'd done it all hell broke loose...the wind went from 7 knots to over 25 in seconds....Trev dived onto the main sheet to ease it out...the auto pilot was driving but starting to lose control. I dashed aft and grabbed the mainsheet from Trev who dived over to release the runner and ease the Mizzen sheet. I throttled back the engine just as Nick appeared and grabbed the helm and the rest of the crew bounced on deck to help! A few minutes of trimming and we were back on top of things and trucking along at over 9 knots again...but myself and Trevor needed a stiff drink to recover from the ordeal - talk about zero to hero!! and in the pitch dark! Anyway just to make us feel better Nick assured us this will happen time and again on the crossing....we'll be ready for it next time :-)
The rest of the night was quiet and uneventful...well...it was for me because for the first time ever I got 6 hours sleep!!! Heeeaaavvveeeennnnn! Sadly the wind died to 10 knots from NE overnight and we are heading SW so we decided to drop the mainsail which was flogging horrible at every sailing angle and deploy the iron sail...We brought extra fuel specifically to allow us to push through the light winds like this and we're getting on with our watches and cleaning duties enjoying the calm if a little rolly conditions while the Skipper...err...supervises!!
24 hours in therefore and all is well aboard the good ship Cruinneag. Steve promises to bake fresh bread tomorrow. Me and trev are going to whip up a chicken curry for tea tonight, Raman is gunning for the first weekly Golden Duvet award, although he blames his lack of sea legs (this is his first time sailing!) for his slumber fits and nausea the rest of the crew is suspicious as he had no problem at happy hour or at dinner last night...hmmm we shall keep an eye on him!
Dandy the dog is relaxed in all but the toilet department and is going for a new record we suspect...we'll keep you updated!
Todays log by Karen!