Day 2 Position 23:47.92N 17:49.24W a Hero steps forward.

Gwenhyfar's Travels
Peter
Tue 26 Nov 2019 11:39
The wind continued to fade after noon and soon we found ourselves in a wind
hole - the sails were flapping aimlessly and all crew were frustrated - The
wind hole also brought with it overcast skies - not what the brochure
promised!

A casual check over the stern and we saw a trailing line. We pulled out a
long line which had been presumably caught during the previous night - ( the
watch heard a loud knock and knew that we had hit something ) - obvious now,
that this would have been a fishing float. Off the African coast around the
continental shelf we had encountered several fishing boats last evening...

A strong tug on the line didn't free - so no choice but to pick a diver!
Simon stepped forward in his new swimmies and with googles and fins went
down the swimming ladder into the 1000 metres deep Atlantic. By this time
the wind was a very helpful flat calm. A couple of laps around the hull and
Simon had the good fortune to free the knot which had locked into the
propeller. Simon came back on board and received the warm congratulations of
the crew. A potentially tricky situation had been resolved.

At 1500 hrs a zephyr breeze line was spotted. We hoisted our light
spinnaker and it cast a light red hue across the deck as the sun appeared.
The crew all smiled at each other as Gwenhyfar responded and picked up her
skirts and by 1700 hrs she was slipping beautifully through the Ocean on
starboard pole.

Supper was Chicken and pancetta ham with potatoes and brocolli - cooked by
our hero of the day... Early evening and we changed the sail plan to Code 0
and settled into our night watch routine with a comfortable boat making a
steady 7-8 knots. During the night watch we overtook Challenger 2 and Mad
Dog as we headed 260' into the starlit night.

Dawn watch was Peter and Jan, and as the rest of the crew awoke to a
beautiful morning we launched the big red spinnaker.

Days run was 150 miles - ( 4 hours were spent stationery )

Gwenhyfar

Out