Fw: Where of sailing fast...........
Imagine of Plymouth
Arthur
Mon 26 Nov 2007 18:32
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Just a liite recap as this is the first blog I have
been able to write....
We are now underway having covered the first 175
miles in less than 22 hours.
For those who do not know we are with 5 onboard,
Arthur Jurg (my brother) as the skipper, Rudy Jurg, first officer of the watch,
Mark, second officer of the watch, Chris Ballard (owner) Admiral and Robert,
Rear Admiral and ships doctor.
I arrvied on Friday night having had very liitle to
do with the preparation. Arthur had already spend 3 weeks in Las Palmas
preparing the boat and making sure eveything works. Many of the systems where
incorretly installed or simply did not work but know eveything seems fine. The
boat is now only 2 months old so not a lot of time to prepare. Most people plan
these types of adventures years ahead!! Luckily he has been in the game for
nearly 10 years becuase if we had to wait for local agents, suppleirs and
warranty works we woukld not have left for another 6 months!!
Last firday was or last big night, free beer
followed by countless bottles of champage to celebrate or departue. It was an
outside venue blowing 35 knots and raining hard..........
Saturday was psend clearing or heads and making all
the checks on decks and getting the boat ready for sea. Arthur girlfriend Renate
has spend the past 3 weeks prpeparing meals which we only have to
reheat. She is qualified chef and I can reliably inform you that the
food is amazing!! We prepared meals for 16 datys + lost of stuff if we feel like
cooking oursleves.
We hope to catch a few fish although at the
current speadds of 10 knots that is not going to happen.
Saturday night we had a queit night, only finishing
putting up the mainsal late in the evening.
We went for a lat shore side meal to a steak house
which is not ideal when you are vegetarien but that is what the troops fancied.
The fireworks where a blow out as it was still force 6-7 and we
went>
Sunday moring we where all feeling a little
apprehensive and what lay ahead, it was very windy! We checked over the boat
once more, put trip grips through all the shackles, a little extra padding on
the spreaders, last safety checl and briefing a left the dock at 1130. A lttle
early for a 1300 start but the marina was full and wanted to avoid and damage.
The start was awesome 250 boat close to the line. We choose the favoured pin end
and made a very clean and fast start. Avoiding a few people who had no concept
of colloison regulations and we quickly had the boat up too 8 knots. We decided
to go offshore to avoid the swell along the shore and very strong winds. Some
dared to put spinnakers up but the quickly ripped. I was personally loving the
conditions, wind speeds of 24-30 knots! It was awesome to surf down the waves
being followed by dolphins which made us look slow. Whilst helming I manged to
get 14.5 knots out of the boat although Arthur read it as 18 on the the GPS!! It
certainly felt fast.............As soon as I cam e of wathc and Arthur took over
the wind died within 1/2 in the lee of Gran Canaria. I forget this was not
a race but a rally and arthur started the engine!! Anyway is was a good
move as wind dropped to less than 3 knots for 30 we have had an hour before. We
motored for 4.5 hours and during Marks watch the wind picked up again. I took
over and it remained strong averaging around 8.5 knots of boat speed..........
We have a 4 hours on and 8 hour off system and you spend no more than 2 hours
with the same person during your watch. Anyway the night passed quickly despite
not having had any real sleep. Chris and myself miss lee cloths in our berths so
we are having to hand on when laying in bed!! I decided to use Arthur bunk but
he ordered me up on deck after an hour to put the A symetric up......By this
time it was Monday moring. This was up for an hour when the wind increased again
to 22 knots. We are now sailing under slightly reefed sails.
Everybody is a little deprived of sleep having to
get used to the rolling motion, wave height last night was 4-5 meters and now
down to 2-3 meters. Chris has been able to catch up and spend much of the moring
in bed trying to find a comfortable position............
Mark is doing another shift in the galley as Robert
can not handle it yet despite being equiped with sea sickness tablets, ear
patches, a watch which pulsates and send shockwaves through your wrist.
Yesterday Mark had flying vegetables through the galley but today everything is
firmly under control.
Autopilot is also running fine and is an amazing
piece of kit. We also have lots of other kit which I will safe for a later blog
as I do not quite understand what they do............we have everything although
I appear just to knackered on of the PV screens.
Qoute of the day from Mark.........better a bad day
at sea than a good day in the office.........
Chris Ballard - Dockwise seemed a very good
option
Robert - Why do people sail across the Atlantic if
they can fly
Rudy - Just loves these waves (having spend over 8
hours hand steering)
Arthur - thank F..........where off!!
So more perhaps later, but probably tomorrow as it
is not easy with the boat making 40 degrees all the time.
In case you want to know, it is sunny, 25 C water
temperature 26, wind speed 20 knots heading 260
Regards from Pirates of the
Carribean.........Arhur, Rudy, Robert, Chris and Mark!
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