Night of 1/2 December - interim report
Gwylan
Charles Manby
Tue 1 Dec 2009 12:48
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17 metres
Well that is the amount of sewing we have to do to
repair the webbing tape on the parasailor after a poor hoist at night which
ended up wrapping part of the wing around the radar dome. Rip!!
Rip!!! For a moment it looked like a real ripping up 50 pound notes in a
shower moment. Well we got it down without too much further damage and
have taped up the little tear. Now it's sewing time. Answer is we were
probably a bit cocky in looking to hoist in 18 knots of wind, didn't have it all
set up quite right. We also had a moment with the spinnaker flying free
from the top of the mast which reminds me of when sailing in the INSEAD regatta
off Brittany when we broached and the Major invited Gareth to move his large
posterior to the windward rail. We do have the blue and yellow cruising
chute which we can use as back-up or see which one goes faster. Parasailor
has been very good for downwind and roll reduction.
Plenty of wind overnight and I think there have
been a number of spinnaker rips. There are also reports of a 30 foot Scandi boat
which we passed 2 nights ago having lost its rudder. We have switched to
white sails on a broad reach not goose-winged which is the first time we
haven't sailed downwind in 8 days. Making 8-9 knots in 20knots plus,
we will put up a 190nm day I think so key question is the weather and handling
of boats north or south of us in the "rally".
Little to no sleep overnight. Right now Carsten is
helming having taken over from Lucky who says fur is good when it raining.
We have actually not used the autopilot very much and mainly only in the day for
a rest, probably hand-steering three-quarters of the time - James
and Nicky are sewing, Lara is making bread (we have had fresh bread every day,
try Sainsburys bread mixes), Tom has his nose in the engine room trying to make
the generator go, and I have just come off helming to repair a broken spring on
a latch of the cutlery drawer.
Generator not going means risk of smelly
crew. We have not been making water for the last couple of days to "save
weight", so we have about 350 litres left, plus drinking water, plus large
supplies of beer and rioja!
1050 nm to go to Northern tip of St Lucia. At
7 knots average that is midnight on Monday 7th, at 8 knots it's 2 am on the
7th.
Happy birthday to Michael, hope it's a good one at
work and you like your presents.
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