Day 12
Top Secret
Feel The Magic Yacht Vacations
Tue 22 Jun 2010 11:16
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Position:38:33.99N 52:39.02W
Speed:7 Knots
We had a very restful day yesterday. The Kite was
up and the sea calm. We were doing a good 8 Knots for most of the day. We sun
tanned and read books and fixed a few things.
Then evening came and things changed a bit. The
wind lessened by a few knots and so we decided to leave the kite up. That was a
good thing, because the wind whisperer (Matt) said that the wind will pick up
again in the evening.. and it did...
The sea also picked up and we experienced about 3
metre swells running with the wind in the direction we wanted to go. Great!
eventually we were tootling along at over 9 knots and then the wind and swell
really started to pick up. at about 3 am the wind was blowing at about 22 knots
and we were scooting down the waves at up to 18.8 knots and I averaged about
12.5 knots for over an hour. The sea was just too rough to make it easy to
handle the kite, so we decided to take it down and replace it with the regular
headsail. This task was not as easy as it sounds. With the wind blowing 22 - 25
knots we could not slow down or the sail would be filled with way too much air
and we would never get it down. I decided to start the engines, but as I did the
port engine started to make a banging sound each time we were swept along by a
swell, as if the gearbox had come loose from the engine or something... SO no
engines then for this one!!
After a massive struggle Matt and Rean managed to
get the snuffer over the kite, enough to bring it down, and Mari helmed to keep
the boat on course. After all three of us getting rope burn, we managed to get
the thing down and put up the regular Genoa and a reefed main sail. We are now
cruising along at 6.5 knots in a very lumpy confused sea, but at least we won't
break something.
We have just had some breakfast and the batteries
are nearly fully charged again. I hope the wind stays around and the sea
gets a bit calmer so that we can get a move on.
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