Third Day at sea AZAB Race 45:56N 14:26W
Scherzo AZAB 2015
Eddy
Tue 9 Jun 2015 11:24
My Saturday repair on the Autopilots attachment to the steering quadrant gave out early this am, so Harriet was rudely roused to steer as i made a slightly more complex and hopefully more robust repair, given that i have no more bolts to use after this one…
We made a delicious loaf of bread this am. Very welcome after two hours of filing and hammering in the bilges.
The seas have told their toll on the fleet. 3 retirements in the last 24 hours of the boats near me (and hence visible on the plotter). All different reasons, but such a shame after all the preparation that has gone in to the race.
One of the boats deciding t0 retire had a man overboard alarm go off this am. He hastily cancelled it, but as Scherzo was the closest vessel at 5nm and didn’t ‘hear’ it, it is perhaps more of a gimmick than something that keeps you safe.
Showers for both crew this morning. boat is much sweeter for it.
Miles: 24 hours midnight to midnight 176nm. (7 2/3 knots average speed. ) Water used. Lots of hot water this morning given fast progress and niffyness.
Harriet & Eddy
> On 8 Jun 2015, at 12:02, Eddy Collier <scherzo {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com> wrote:
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> [PS - James, by forward, i mean give the url of the tracker. Thanks e]