Tuesday 4 December 2018
Kelpie
Sarah and David Holtby
Tue 4 Dec 2018 18:01
So today is St Barbara's Day. For those people unfortunate enough not to be Gunners, she is The Gunners' patron saint and her day is always commemorated in a somber, sober memorial service. Yeah right! The two Gunners on board have been thinking wistfully about the monstrous piss up we are missing!
We are clinging onto our top-three position; the race seems to have split into two groups, being the front three and the rest. The front three are two big, fast boats and little old Kelpie (who is gamely keeping up with them) and we are stretching away from the rest. Today we passed the 1500 mile waypoint so we are now 5/7th of the way. We have learnt how to sail Kelpie conservatively but fast; for fellow sailors we are goose-winged with 2 reefs in the main and one in the poled-out genoa in a nor-easterly force 4 gusting force 5 making around 6.5 knots. Innovatively, the genoa is poled out far further forward than normal, and partially rolled allowing it to behave like half a spinnaker and enabling us to point an aggressive 150 degrees off true wind which is dead on our Rhumb line. The sea is quite rough which the Hydrovane self-steering might struggle with were we to squeeze another quarter or half knot of boat speed by shaking out one of the reefs in the main; we might have to intervene manually to get her back on course quickly, as we did with a couple of minor squalls overnight, whose incidence is forecast to grow.
The Hydrovane provided more drama when its rudder became wrapped in thick Sargasso weed. Because it is unthinkable to stop or even slow the boat, the Ship's Boy was lowered over the stern with a fish gaff to push the weed off whilst seven knots of Atlantic blundered past, though very warm it was.
In other news, the water-maker is keeping up with consumption - amazing when you consider I bought it second-hand on eBay!
D