Wind, Wind and some Rain with some Lightening, Thunder, Rain, Rain and some Waves with some Waves and some Wind
Piccolo
Andrew Yates
Sun 17 May 2009 13:20
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Speed Update: Katie = 11.6
Sam = 10.8
Mat =
10.2
Heidi
= 10.4
The prize for the winner is one of Sam's night
watches.
Katie recognises that at night it is darker than
during the day. The night before last night brought pouring rain, thunder
and lightening at the start of 'The Storm'. In the early hours of
yesterday we had a constant 38 knots of fast moving air in the sails, seas up to
15 feet and some crashing waves keeping Piccolo not too steady. 36 hour laters
we still have lightening all around and above us, crashing thunder, crazy winds
that are as undecided on which speed and direction they want as Gorden Brown is
on the economy (oh that seems so far away here). Progess is good, we are
using the storm to blast us towards the Azores at a steady 8.5 knots
average. This morning brought a rip in the mainsail so Sam and Mat will be
testing those sewing skills shortly.
Fight update - Heidi v's Battery - Round 4.
Heidi takes the round as the batterys are staying up due to maintenance on the
Methanol fuel cell (well a check of connections and a top up of methanol ( don't
drink.. hic... hic)) and a tightening of the fan belt on the engine.
And a strict curfew on all power. The battery light and alarm flashes when
the engine is on, this brought the battery back into the fight but this has been
fought off with the narrowing down of the fault to a faulty
circuit.
Newsflash - Mat sues Dubarry as his boots are
leaking (maybe buying them for £15 from Bangor market might explain this
Matthew).
Lightening update - Katie is wondering where best to sit to avoid being
struck, the GPS is wrapped warmly in foil and is in the oven (a place i would
like to be right now).
Suntans are no more, foul weather gear is soaked
and the future looks grey! If anyone has any news of sunshine, flat seas
with a steady 20 knots of wind we would gladly receive the news. Despite
all this moral is awesome ;)
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