37N 18W
IDEA Sailing
Idea Yacht Racing Ltd
Mon 24 Jun 2013 12:47
Good afternoon ladies and gents and welcome once again to our world.
For the past 36 hours or so IDEA has been fighting with Mother Nature, and she can be an evil mama at times. We've had up to 35knots of breeze basically right in our faces, which is actually manageable. The problem is the ocean. The sea state has piled itself into horrendousness. We've had some waves come through that surfers on the east coast of Barbados would kill for.
Throughout the night with the full moon doing it's best to shine through the cloud cover we sailed. And getting ready for those night watches is quite a task. It'll take anywhere from 15 - 30 minutes just to get dressed. Which is the inspiration for today's blog. A Symphony of Velcro tabs and Zipper pulls. Each of which makes a distinct noise depending on it's size, and we each have plenty. First you get the underlayers on, then it's time for the outer layers.
Put the Waterproof bibs on, which have a huge zip on them (ZIIIIIIIIP), then bend over and do up the velcro tabs at the ankles (Rip Rip. Rip Rip.) Then the light waterproof jacket goes on with velcro tabs at the wrists (Rip Rip, Rip Rip), and zippering up the front which also has a long velcro strip covering it (RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip). You then put the outer jacket on which also has the velcro at the wrists (Rip Rip, Rip Rip) and the same Velcro Zipper set up (RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip). Then you have to check your outer pockets which all have velcro taps (rip rip rip rip rip rip). Then you have to check your inner pockets which means undoing the front zip (RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip). The inner pockets zip up so you've got a small (zip zip) and redoing the front zip(RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip). Then the hood goes on which has a velcro adjuster on top (rip), and after all that you are ready for the wild blue yonder.
So our Symphony goes a little something like this:
ZIIIIIIIIP. Rip Rip. Rip Rip, Rip Rip, Rip Rip. RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip, Rip Rip, Rip Rip, RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip, rip rip rip rip rip rip. RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip, zip zip, RiiiiiiiiZiiiiiiiiiiiip, . . . . . . . .rip.
Bach and Beethoven ain't got nuttin on us.
And it is wild as mentioned above. So much so that we have turned around, so for those of you following the tracker that is not a mistake. We have turned IDEA back toward Horta. This was simply the safest option open to us. So even though it took 3 days to get to where we turned it should only take 2 to get back and a new plan will be hatched.
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
IDEA