35:01.619N 006:35.709W
Telefonica Black
Lance Shepherd
Mon 13 Jan 2020 22:37
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III - We have it all
It is 0730 and I am literally typing this with my feet
wetched into anything I can get a hold of and my elbows are firmly pressed
onto the navigation table. It is bumpy and blowing a steady 17-20 knots.
When we left the Strait of Gibraltar we were just saying
to each other how nice the weather is and how great it is for the guests to be
introduced to Telefonica Black under these gentle circumstances. Apart from some
(light) traffic and changing (light) winds nothing significant happened
during the first watch. Everybody had a go on the helm and seemed to settle in
nicely. When the second shift came on at midnight I was lying in my bunk
feeling a little bit jealous because the wind picked up a bit and it really felt
like they were having a blast up there. The trick is however to stay in your
bunk and try to get some sleep rather then going up and becoming part of it.
Literally when I was putting on my foulies to start my
shift at 4am I felt the boat straighten up and as we made our way up
the companion way Lance started the engine and the jib was lowered. Bummer. We
knew we were in for some light weather but this was much sooner than predicted.
Luckily at around 0530 the wind started to pick up and
we were able to sail again soon after. 6 knots of wind gave us almost 8 knots of
boat speed.
Then 7 knots of wind.. 8.. 10.. 14.. 15.. Gusts of 18..
Within an hour we started to struggle with our full main up and around 0700 we
decided to put a reef in. Which was soon made into 2 reefs. Even though we still
have the big jib up (J2) the 2 reefs did help with settling the boat down a bit.
We expect the wind to go to less than 6 knots within an hour, so we are
literally now waiting to see what is going to happen. A prediction is just a
prediction..
Through all this everybody is doing really well. To my
knowledge there are no reports of seasickness (yet) and that is really great
considering the conditions we are currently in.
The change of shift is at 0800 and if nothing big
happens shift 1 is getting a full 6 hours of sleep. The advantage of shift
2? The are going to be treated by a very beautiful sunrise..
Never a dull moment in sailing!
Angela
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