Big Brother
Flyer of Lorne
Dave Sturrock
Tue 2 Dec 2008 08:21
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15:59.67N 30:43.94W
Monday 01 December, Days Run 160NM
Apologies to our log/blog diary readers for the
typo on thye longitude position yesterday which put Flyer several hundred miles
to the West of the Cape Verde Islands. Rest assured we are continuing Westwards
as fast as we can, the error was caused by a pretty dim light in the cabin and
the keyboard jumping around with the boat's motion. No excuse I know but it is
the first such positioning error since we started on 01 November. This should be
corrected shortly by one of our onshore team.
The winds continued to be lighter than we would
like although our progress was pretyy repectable considering their fitful
nature. WE have moved up a few places in the fleet lying 10th in class and 120th
overall in the ARC. I would just like to point out we are ranked 214 by length
overall so we are punching above our weight as it were, still must do better! We
have been on port gybe since the ealry hours today which was giving us a heading
of approx 240 degrees initially. Our plan is to continue Southy towards latitude
14N or until a windshift sends us West, the forecast is now indicating SE winds
in our area. Sure enough over the day our course swung gradually to the West as
the wind veered to the SE. Around 16:00 the wind dropped to around 7knots
leaving Flyer wallowing in the swell, some of the most irritating conditions
known to sailors!. The No 1 gennaker known as "Big Brother" was hoisted to give
us more Momentum( sailmaker pun) and we were able to make 7knots in 10knots of
true breeze. As nightfall overtook us I had quite a few anxious questions from
the crew such as " what sail do you plan to leave hoisted overnight Skip?
Bearing in mind we have regularly seen 20-25knots of wind around midnight most
nights it was a good question. The need for speed and the current forecast meant
that it looked safe enough to leave the No.1 hoisted, in any event he could be
doused a lot easier than his snarling sibling which has already been known
to lift a man off the foredeck with ease!.
Continuing the Big Brother theme and it is my
own fault for suggesting an interactive format for the blog site. It has
been suggested that there is a daily vote to see who leaves Flyer every day. I
think this has been brought on by " I am a celebrity, get me out of here" as
much as anything, a case of life imitating art maybe. Anyway watch this space
for further details as always.
As we have passed longitud 30W we have also moved
our watches back 2 hours, we will continue to turn back time 1 hour at
each 15degrees of longitude to mainatin the correct local time. All our position
reporting will however continue to be in GMT.
Dave Sturrock
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