Day 16 - the final frontier
Freespirit
Tue 12 Dec 2006 18:20
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We spent a miserable night with the main and jib
flogging in low winds, unable to fill properly with the wave motion.
No-one slept well and I was up and down most of the time fretting about the
shuddering and jarring of the boom and main against the rig. As soon as it
was light we got all hands on deck to set the spinnaker, jury-rigged on our last
two halyards. Immediately we were beset by squalls, rained on and
suffering from a series of "death rolls". In between the squalls there was
not enough wind, and the direction was not allowing us to make our course.
Prognosis was for no more wind than 10 knots all the way in and we were looking
at another 2 nights at sea instead of one. All in all, not a great start
to the day.
However, we have persisted with it, overtaken one
yacht (the first we have seen for about 9 days) and we have suddenly had a bit
of a break. We gybed after lunch and since then have had about 18 knots of
wind again with the odd cloudy gusts to send us on our way. We are
averaging 7-8 knots again and back on track for dinner in Rodney Bay tomorrow
night. I have all my fingers and toes crossed....we need a
breakage-free 24 hours and the continued blessing of the weather
gods.
Watch out on the blog for a word from our Chief of
Staff and Admiral of the Fleet, Mr Cow. He is due to make his official
report on the trip so far any time now.....
In the meantime, last night's sunset was worth a
photo
 Day 15
Sunset
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