ARC Log - Day 9
Global Yacht Racing's P42
Global Yacht Racing
Tue 2 Dec 2008 20:06
We're now well into this trough of low pressure that seems to stretch out in every direction. Skies are overcast and the wind is very light and fluky. Our little pack of four boats are still close together - our main rivals are about 50 miles south of us (slightly further from St. Lucia), but seem to be enjoying marginally better wind at the moment. We're hoping fortunes are reversed soon. What happened to trade winds sailing?!
The forecast doesn't look encouraging - I think we're facing at least three low-mileage days before the wind fills back in from the north-east. You can tell that everyone is frustrated - light wind racing always makes people a little less tolerant and a little more snappy - beware the snorers! The 1310 miles we have to go still seems a long way between us and our first beer.
That's all from me. Chris, George, Nelli and Sebastian, who clearly have too much time on their hands, have contributed some more below.
Ric
--
"Down down, deeper and down"
We now understand what low pressure is in the tropics!
It was lunchtime when things started to get low. We opened today's bag of food and discovered 20 packets of "Bacon and Beans" - we knew there was going to be trouble. It could only mean one thing - no wind.
Clearly the crew knew they were going to have to come up trumps. Sure enough, by 7pm the wind had died completely. The night shift had begun and it was time for the beans to do their work.
It didn't work. For a whole watch we made little progress, and our spirits ebbed. We cheered ourselves up by telling jokes.
We thought things couldn't go lower - how wrong we were. Up until now we had been sharing 5 spoons between 10 people which was already proving difficult at times. One enterprising crew member managed to solve the problem in one stroke by throwing them all into the sea with the dishwater.
They now live about 4000m beneath us, which is pretty low.