ARC Log - Day 2

Global Yacht Racing's P42
Global Yacht Racing
Tue 25 Nov 2008 19:22
22:24.3N 019:11.4W
Authors: Ric, then Sebastian and Sandy

After a fairly slow night reaching, we eventually found the NE trades the weather models have been showing around 3am this morning. We waited until it got light to change to our big, running kite and have been enjoying a constant 15-20 knots of wind all day. The boat is fairly powered up so it's great for everyone to improve their downwind helming. We're still heading SW, and it looks like we need to get south of 19N before we can gybe and head more west with reliable wind from behind us.

Sebastian wants to share his thoughts on the last couple of days:

"After the perfect start and a smooth gybe we were maybe a bit too confident so the wind and sea reminded us immediately of the Ric's appeal to be cautious: in 20 knots of wind we chinese gybed which resulted in a very uncomfortable few minutes with half the cockpit under water. After Ric and Paul had sorted out the mess we hoisted the big kite again and were rewarded with a wild ride south in 25 knots of wind. Top speed 17.7 knots. We won't tell Ric's Mum about it though."

"Along with that excitement we started our watch routine and had our first Wayfarer meals. Ric and Paul made no great claims for them but they actually taste quite good."

"The nights are very dark as the moon - almost new moon - rises only half an hour before dawn. So we're amazed to notice how two planets that are visible in the dusk and first three hours illuminate the sea. On land you identify them more easily than any fixed star but all the light pollution dulls their brilliance taht is so apparent out here. Our fascination that comes from this is one of the few things we talk about out - life is concentrated on the race and there seems to be an unwritten code among us to talk as little as possible."

"We are a nice team. 10 days ago we didn't know each other. Now we are perfectly harmonizing and even if we are divided into two watches, we feel as one team. That's why we prefer to call our watches H2O - two elements that combine to something, and the 2 stands for Ric and Paul who coordinate our work and impress us with their boat handling."

Wow, Ric here again... I call the watches 'red' and 'green' - slightly worried that Sebastian's been on the happy pills... Here's a perspective from Sandy on the other watch, whatever it may be called:

"First off, I should reiterate that we are all having a great time. The only things to have gone overboard are the odd piece of cutlery and leftovers from dinner. There hasn't been any seasickness to report and we seem to be doing well in terms of ground covered against our rivals. We're just about settled properly into the watch system now with the night being split into 3 hour chunks running from 7pm to 7am. The day is split into 4 hour shifts with one watch doing 8 hours while the other does 4. We've had 8 hours off today and have mostly been sleeping."

"Last night went smoothly with light winds to begin with which was frustrating (Ric tells us it suits our boat well but I think we all wish it was blowing a bit more - it means we don't have to wait as long for the first beer in St Lucia!)"

"We've had plenty of dolphins to keep us amused both day and night. They really are something at night when they appear more like torpedoes with flashes of phosphorescense being left in their wake."

"Life on board isn't bad. Things have warmed up now we've got quite a bit south (nobody seems to be smelling too much which is good, but that may of course be due to the scribe smelling himself!). Being off watch and trying to sleep was a bit difficult first off. It was quite difficult to switch off to begin with and I'm not sure the 'chinese gybe' helped."

"I can't finish without mentioning the food. I can confirm Wayfarers are edible and the firm favourite at the moment seems to be Sausage and Beans - a real throwback to the old Heinz tins. Secondly it seems to take an age to sort out food for 10 when all we are doing is boil-in-the-bag and maybe some form of pasta. Last night took over 45 minutes!"

"All in all, we are all still enjoying ourselves, and with only 2400 odd miles to go to St Lucia, we'll be there in no time!"