24th Jan Morning report 14 43.270N 47 44.100W
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Tue 24 Jan 2017 09:32
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It is 0920 UT and still just dark. The night was
peaceful, a little too peaceful, perhaps as we could really do with a little
more wind. The GRIBs show some more pressure to the south of us and that seems
to be consistent, so it looks likely we will stay on port gybe today and do the
next 100 or so miles in the direction of about 235 degrees.
I think if we can get down to a ltitude where
Barbados is bearing about 280 or 285, we ought to have a nice run in, in a
breeze of about 15 or 16knots, insteadof the wallowing about we do up here in
11.
These are the conditions where a short handed crew
start to lose out, as the lumps in the sea mean you effectively cannot use the
spinnaker at night, and it is the only sail you can useto getany
properdrive...but with just the 2 or us, to fly it all night for weeks at a
time, would simply be too sleep depriving.
Ialso pose the question here; what is the purpose
of full battens in a mainsail? I must ask a sailmaker some time. The
consequences of having just 2 or our main battens full length, is a series of
loud shock loads transmitted to and through the rig, every time a wave passes
through. I have tried appying morevang, letting vang off, sheeting in a bit,
relaxingthe preventer....all to no avail. It seems, we just need more
wind!
Right, that's me done here...kettle's
boiling.
N
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