19/6/09 - 5.55.45S 112.23.28W at 18.00 UTC

Flying Cloud
Julian Nichols
Fri 19 Jun 2009 06:51
We had a rainy, squally night last night. At 06.30 UTC (about 11.30pm local time) we had to drop the Asymmetric kite as the wind strengthened to 25 knots and headed us by 90 degrees, forcing us to head NW (we are trying to head SW). No sooner had we dropped it and rolled out the jib, then we needed to reef. All of this took place in swimming trunks given the rain! It also happened pretty much to plan and Matt and i took the rest of our watches from in the cabin.

Shortly after dawn things had improved enough to put the Asymmetric back up.

Today saw a return to Yoga as the weather improved, but by lunch time the rain was here again in force. So Matt and i retired to the TV with a couple of beers to watch Bruce Willis in all his glory save the world from Alan Rickman (Die Hard of course).

As evening came, the weather improved again and the pleasant sound of the sewing machine could once more be heard on the Cloud.

Julian

Captain's corner:
Alas! No pictures today... Too much rain for us to manage any nice shots. Spirits are high though, especially as we had young Bruce to lead us through the darkest hours! We weren't entirely bone idle today: We did manage to sew on what I felt was the hardest bit of stitching, the centre-line webbing, this meant rolling up 4.5 meters long worth of material, so that it would pass through the 30cm gap between the sewing machine arm and the machine itself!

Mattman