1 Day to go!!!
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14 42.0N 58 07.9W Well we are nearly there, 163 miles to go and we expect to arrive tomorrow morning. I thought you may be interested in the final challenges of the race represented in the abridged log...swear words omitted! Bright sunshine, flying fish on deck ...we are nearly there!!
6/12/10
14 43N 47 02W
Monday Day 16, Two big disasters today, one
shredded the spinnaker after only being hoisted for 5 minutes and second running
out of beer!!! The first was a shame, an early collapse onto the inner forestay
caused two tears that ripped across and down the sail before we could get it
down in around 20 knots of wind. WE were looking for a greedy 0.5knot more which
was stupid with hindsight but the conditions should have been okay and the boats
behind and in front of us were both carrying spinnakers. Took sun sights today
only to find that I havn’t got air navigation tables for this latitude and the
method in the US almanac is so confusing but will try again tomorrow, noon
latitude okay. We have had contact with ‘Sulana’ who sound like they are going
well and just behind us, although they have not used any engine which is
impressive, ‘Fred’ is now 20th, they
must have used a lot of engine!! Also e mails from ‘Andromeda’ who are still becalmed and
‘Cobra Libra’ who are 4 days behind
and expect to be in on the 16th. Talked to ‘Patience’ on the VHF in the morning and
must be one of the boats in sight. After losing the spinnaker we set up a goose
winged rig with poled out genoa, not quite making course but reaching 7-8 knots
with wind on starboard quarter and genoa sailing a little shy of the wind,
untidy but best speed we can get I think. Wind increased a little through the
day and we made 8-10 knots adn forecast is to go around to the east which will
help with course. Around 850 miles to go now and first boat, a Swan 80 arrived
in St Lucia today, next nearest boat has 400 miles to go I think. Big sushi
lunch today, 4 plates of it made from our tuna caught at start of trip (and
frozen) It turned out really well, I have never been full of sushi before,
Ashley did a great clean up afterwards. Evening favourite of chicken kebabs by
Jody....... 7/12/10 14 56N 50 28W Tuesday Day 17, The wind increased during the night, Ashley recorded 27nm in one 3 hour watch and I took over at 0300 for watch. The waves were building and Nakesas was surfing down the front at speeds off of the dial, I recorded a 10 mile hour at 0500 and on change of watch I decided to reef the main by furling jib and coming onto the wind at the change of watch. Very sadly this went wrong, Jody instead of easing the main outhaul for some reason pulled in on the pole guy with the power winch, realising the main was not free he then released the main outhaul under load and let it fly, and then in a panic to recover tension in the outhaul and stop the main and boom flogging that resulted he again pushed power winch which was loaded with the pole guy until the pole buckled and broke. This is the second serious piece of damage caused by inexperienced hands with the power winches in 6 months and I should learn two lessons, 1) to turn off power winches when anyone else is aboard 2) to stop assuming any level of awareness in others and check their tasks fully before commencement. I did not show how angry I was with this mistake. At first it was the cost of replacement combined with the fact we could no longer sail properly in trade winds, later I realised that this heavy pole was broken against the shrouds and so we could very easily have broken the shrouds and so jeapordised the whole mast and rig with this mistake. It then became and has become a personal excercise in maintaining a positive spirit towards the voyage and the crew for the remainder of the trip. The pole bent and with jagged ends was ditched over the side to prevent further damage, with hindsight I guess I should have saved the ends as Ashley later pointed out. I dread to think of replacement cost! We continued the day with much dampened spirits and returned good speeds using main and genoa and then genoa only. WE were losing 1.5 knots without the pole...aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Top speed recorded before the pole broke was 14 knots 8/12/10 14 52N 53 36W Wednesday Day 18, The remainder of the trip has been partly tainted with frustration and remorse regarding the loss of the pole. We continue with a reduced ability to sail and despite making good progress we are losing ground to all the others and missing out on the sleigh ride we should be having...and the personal race with Sulana I was looking forward to. That said we are averaging 8 knots and over 7.5VMG to waypoint, the sailing is easy and the weather perfect. The frustration and fatigue got to both P and I in the evening and P got very upset about clearing up and I found it difficult to stay awake on watch. The last two days have been emotionally tiring if not physically. We continue to battle to keep the generator going. Ashley and I attend to it at least twice a day, currently there are; air in fuel issues, sender probe connections, intermittent fuel pump etc. but miraculously it is still producing power and water for us! Thai chicken curry tonight! Sulana now 30 miles ahead! 9/12/10 53 45N 56 50W Thursday Day 19, A yacht was sighted astern at 0600 showing lights and when day broke, a beautiful sunrise, sails were seen only 3 miles away. This turned out to be an Oyster 54 ‘Surya’, Rob spoke with us on the VHF and we took pictures as they passed (poled out and making 10 knots aaarrrrggghhhhh again!!!!) We stayed in sight all day. Gas is lasting so far but restrictions on cooking at breakfast and lunch frustrated Jody’s yearning for beans and bacon, Friday maybe, Phaedra also found one lone beer in the fridge which she was awarded, for being the only one to clean out the fridge, but restrained herself from having until late afternoon. Position reports show Sulana has gained another 25 miles, so 1 knot at least we are losing still I must stop complaining as we are making great progress. The ARC positions are igniting my competitive spirit! ETA Saturday morning. Jennifer arrived in Rodney Bay last night so Ashley will undoubtebly be very keen to arrive now. Patience, a voice from the past called in afternoon, they are catching us again and offered us their spare pole when we arrive. A very pleasant conversation and offer but I fear it will be too short for ‘Nakesa’. Children did a treasure hunt and aeroplane competition and Atlanta made a music video on the i pod singing Bob Marley, they have been amazingly good!!! Phaedra has even managed a week and a halfs school work with them. They have botrh made log books, Atlantas is pictorial made with her new camera and printer, Aston’s is a beautiful description of animals he has seen on the trip so far. |
