Day Nine: Patience is a Virtue
Purple Mist
Skipper: Kate Cope
Mon 16 Jan 2023 21:05
Day Nine: Patience is a Virtue
Welcome back to “Two girls in a boat” where we continue to make steady progress across the Atlantic Ocean.
t’s been a quiet day, no dramas which, believe me, with what’s been happening is a real bonus.
Overnight was very squally, gusty 30kt winds again, this time accompanied by plenty of cold rain. Purple Mist was well behaved and took each gust in her stride and accelerated nicely.
We are still waiting for the wind to drop enough to unravel the spinnaker from the forestay. Overnight the only time it dropped below 18kts for more than 15 minutes was once at 4am , then it was pitch black with squalls coming through so not an option.
By morning it looked possible , wind down to 18kts and dropping. We made a through plan , and had a fortifying cheese and onion omelette to build our strength.
First we moved to only 1 reef on the main. We hoisted it differently this time , well sheeted in to take the pressure off the bolt rope. The good news is the repair has worked so at least we have more mainsail up.
We also set up the foredeck, taking off the hanked on jib to give us more room. We set up the Go Pro to video things. We have no photos of “spinnaker gate” or the mast climb as it was all too full on to even contemplate getting a phone out.
However despite being ready the wind picked up to 21kts again and squalls appeared on the horizon (see photo) So the spinnaker unravelling is on hold. It’s very frustrating to be slow but we are enforced to be patient as we can’t risk any more breakages or loss of sails. My mind keeps popping up with ideas …Code Zero …A5…take the reef out of the main. Then the wind builds again and I’m sort of glad we’ve not acted on any of these ideas.
The forecast is for some lighter patches so I’m sure we will get a better opportunity. Mind you the wind has currently moved to 140’ and put us on a reach which wasn’t forecast. Quick Claire get trimming that storm jib.
This was going to be the end of the blog for today , going ever slower desperate for more sail area but concerned to get something in a pickle especially with the tangle still at the forestay. Anyway at 7pm we decided to put our “big girl pants” on and to use the last of the daylight to test out the Code Zero. We needed to leave the storm jib in place as it’s protecting the wrap but we successfully hoisted the zero as well and It worked !!! Immediately 2 more knots of boat speed for at least an hour. Hurrah so this maybe our set up for tomorrow. For now we are playing it safe and taken it down just before dark as there are squalls on the horizon again.
