Fw: Las Palmas
Penguin
Tue 22 Nov 2005 18:04
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To: all of Rob & Jackie's fans, all of
Norman's admirers, Clare & Jays family & friends and Bhindi and
Penguin followers generally.
Where should we begin with the Penguin
update...............................
The highlight of the first 24 hrs of the ARC race
is split - you choose which is the top story:
1. Having started a tote as to who would
loose the first 'valuable' item overboard, Clare promptly won by dropping a sock
out of the boat! It served as a useful man-overboard drill with Jackie on
the helm and Clare manning the boat-hook. Once successfully rescued and
brought on board the sock was found not to be overly stressed and after a
quick bit of mouth to sock is now tucked up in bed and drying
out!
2. We have been invaded by an alien lifeform - it
descended silently and with only a brief flurry of wings landed on Normans
knee. He got quite excited as he has been trying to find a bird for the
trip. A Spanish racing pigeon, Norman has the dictionary out hopefully
trying to converse. It was love at first sight and the two are now sitting
at the front of the boat, arm in wing. It should make a romantic sight as
the sun sets below the horizon.
3. Played I-spy earlier with
Clare. Guessed a word beginning with 'S'. I mean, how hard can
that be when you're stuck in the middle of the Atlantic (well only on the edge
at the moment but we are hopeful that at some point we will be stuck in the
middle)(sort of, hopefully not stuck though) surrounded by, yes you guessed it,
the SEA. After about 28 different guesses I got bored waiting for an
Einstein like burst of inspiration and gave them the answer.
Any way, the story so far.
Started yesterday at 1300hrs, good start, at
western end of line, kept clear air and got off well with only a few of
the bigger boats in front. Then ended up on the inside of a useful
bend in the wind which ultimately got us out to a complete 180 degree windshift,
which also was blowing 30knots on the nose. Nice introduction with full
oilies and lots of water coming over the boat. Also lots of water coming
in to the boat through various gaps - will have to work on those over next few
days. Sailed through night after lovely sunset, had Pizzas for supper
so not too bad really! Wind dropped off through night but also took us
round to a course heading parallel to West Africa which was not too
helpful. However, carried on sailing on same tack, finally tacking when a
certain person, who shall remain unnamed, put the boat about when we were
actually trying to take a reef out of the mainsail. Hmmm.
Today (Monday) the wind has died and we are now
floundering around in bu..er all wind with a boat speed of around
1-2knots. ETA currently about 8 months!!
No whales or dolphins, no fish caught despite Matts
expert tips to Clare - which bit did you leave out, Matt?
Jackie says to say she's fine (but the truth is
she's a funny green colour at the moment, although no big white telephone action
so far! ) She also says thanks to the various people who sent
pressies/letters through. Especially Jo for the Xmas pud, although
this should have been the bigger one, to make Clare & I work
harder with the transportation of said pud. Had cheese sandwiches for
lunch, tea and supper in an attempt to get through the new European cheese
mountain that seems to be residing in the fridge...thanks to all
contributors.
Don't forget the web site for the race www.worldcruising.com ARC boat name
Penguin, race number 126.
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