Back on the line

Karma Daze
Chris and Penny Manley
Fri 20 Dec 2013 22:17
Started our second shift on the ARC finishing line at 10.00 am Sunday 15th December morning.  It’s now 02.00 –the early hours of Monday 16th December..  We have checked in 17 boats so far, the last one at a quarter passed midnight.  The next one is due in at 04.15, so time to get some sleep.  Penny has had about an hour and Chris is sleeping now.
 
The weather continues to be windy and quite wet.  We’re sat on the boat out in the bay with the wind about 20 knots (force 5).  A squall has just passed through with torrential rain and winds gusting up to 35 knots (gale force).  Fortunately it doesn’t last for very long, then the sun is out again.  as it’s at night, the moon,which is very bright as it is nearly a full moon.
 
We seem to be surrounded by 3 smallish (200 foot) cruise boats – not the ones that look like a block of flats, but quite elegant ones with masts and sails.  We had to speak to 2 of them when they came in to explain where the ARC finishing line is place so they didn’t moor there.  Their captains (or whoever we spoke to) were very polite and helpful.  We had to look up the length of a cable as they talked about dropping their anchors so many cables in front of their bow. (a cable is a tenth of a nautical mile).
 
The wind has now eased to about  16 to 20 knots which feels like a gentle breeze after the winds in the squall.
 
We have probably about 8 more boats to check in before our shift finishes at 10.00 Monday morning, when we can retreat to the relative calm of the marina, until our last duty on Wednesday