Fw: Where of sailing fast...........

Imagine of Plymouth
Arthur
Mon 26 Nov 2007 18:32
 
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!