Little Pea's ARC Blogoramma 8 - We're over halfway!
Littlepea
Sat 8 Dec 2012 09:34
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19:21.5N 42:44.0W
PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST WAS SUPPOSED TO BE POSTED ON
6th DECEMBER BUT DIDN'T MAKE IT. DON'T WORRY, WE'RE WELL BEYOND HALFWAY
NOW!
WE DID IT! Yesterday we reached the halfway mark in
this marathon of a sail.
We all woke up in a very good mood as we knew today
we'd it the halfway mark. For breakfast Jags (who was on Mother duty) made
porridge and added currents and apricots to make a smiliey face (ah bless...).
By lunch time we past half way so our celebratory lunch was pizza and
dinner was steak, followed up by a cigar and some rum. The sun shone dowm on us
all day, the wind was steady and we were sailing fast. All in all, it
was probably our best day so far.
.... And then the night came down on
us.
The night shift started with Jags and Ben grumbling
about the fact that they couldn't take any sights with the sextant. Much
complaining about the fact that a belt of thick cloud had set in and was
obscuring the stars. The huffing and puffing at the time somewhat
overlooked the fact that this cloud was the precursor to an electrical storm
which brought flashes of lightning, driving rain, lots or it, and ugly
seas that threw Pea around like a cork on a rapid. The wind
intensified to about 25kts, gusting 30kts and swung around to the South and Pea
was heeling over so much that her leeward topsides were submerged. We
thought about reefing, but half our reefing lines are bust anyway, and
the thought of leaving the cockpit to clamber around in the peeing rain,
clinging onto a boat heeled over at aout 50 degree's didn't appeal, so we just
went for it. We went into a 2-man watch system, 3hours on, 3hours
off. The 3 hours on watch were not spent huddled under the
sprayhood. The wind was shifting constantly and we had to trim, and
re-trim, all night. All the time, we had crashing seas breaking over
our heads and the boat was thrashing about violently. Good grief, the last
Fastnet campaign I did was easier than this! Everything so wet
: cushions, towels, clothing, lines, equipment. When each
of us got off watch we clambered down below, soaked only to collapse
into our a damp bunks to sleep for a couple of hours before going back
topside for more. It was the night of nights.
By morning when conditions started to ease, we were
physically and mentally exhausted....However, we also had our fastest 24 hour
passage.
Other points of note:
Picture in advent calendar = A train.
Chocolote piece melted again and looked like dog poo, but Mike still ate
it.
Max Boat speed = can't remember, was too busy
trying to make sure we didn't drop the mast
Number of Reefs = Shold have been 2, but
nil.
Maximum Gust = Sh*t, hold on, here comes
another one
Number of Flying Fish = lots, including one which
nearly landed in the cockpit.
Number of Whales = 0
Amount of Rain = Enough to desalinate the
Atlantic
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