Second Day at sea AZAB Race
Scherzo AZAB 2015
Eddy
Mon 8 Jun 2015 13:42
Relatively light winds for most of yesterday (Sunday 7th). After
lunch 0f ham sandwiches and salad (Harriet always has ham sandwiches,
wherever she is) the wind started to build and cramp our gentle potter
(rendering shorts and sun bathing redundant) and causing us to manage
the spinnaker more actively. It came down when the wind was
consistently at or above 22 knots and we were rounding up a bit too
much. Dinner of Harriet’s ratatouille with couscous and chicken. Very
good fare in a rising wind.
Overnight the wind increased to around 27 knots steady, sometimes
above 30 (Force 7), sometimes less. Big following sea trying to slop
us out of the cockpit with every wave. Harriet is shouting down from
there now, as the seas are still building - “whoa - that is the
BIGGEST wave i have EVER seen!”
Anyway, certainly hard work to move around. Luckily, the sails are
very manageable - just the foresails out - no main. A mainsail and
the boom in this sea at a run or near run is always a trial - and we
don’t need it. we are doing anything from 6.5 to 9 knots.
Fell off the continental shelf at 01:50 BST. Took an age to find the
instrument that found this alarming enough to sing out every 30
seconds and start all the instruments chatting and howling in
sympathy. Now in very deep water (4000m plus) and the seas are a very
different length and feel. Much less sick making although still very
hard work in these conditions. Curves everywhere you look. No
straight lines. Halcyon of Hebe (Rob Withers) came out of the dark
unexpectedly as we crossed paths in the early hours. Strange how
close we are after this distance. Many other AZAB boats have crossed
our path or we have theirs. Two larger and faster boats retired last
night because of equipment failure. i spoke to one in Class 2 who had
lost the use of his Autohelm and didn’t fancy the prospect of a whole
week more before San Miguel. He now needs to beat for 2 days instead
into a Force 7… Another from Class one had a series of failures and
they were feeling grotty so decided to pack it in. From the
discussions on the radio most people have had some problems. A
spinnaker blew out and someone lost the foot of their genoa and the
same boat has a hole in the main. Much chat about how difficult the
seas are.
Sunshine and very little cloud. Bitingly cold wind though, so very
little prospect off shedding oilies out on deck for several days.
Harriet’s nose has caught most of the sun and will probably be the
only thing that does.
Engine used for 2.5 hours for charging batteries. Water 50litres in 2
days. Sleep - still not quite enough. Stuggeron - 4. Miles in 24
hours (from noon to noon) - 164.8nm. Not too shabby. Total run from
start to now (2 days minus 10 minutes) is 307.8nm.
Race tracker is at http://yb.tl/azab2015#