Day 8
Skye Blue sailing
Stephen and Malene
Sat 11 Nov 2023 07:00
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We have had quite a challenging 24 hours sailing into a
F7 and having to bear off our course for Whangarai. The wind was howling and at
night every dark cloud is a lot more ominous. The stars came and went but still
we rode up the waves and sped down the other side with the occasional wave
crashing into the cockpit to keep us awake. The one benefit of night sailing is
that it is difficult to be scared by the size of the waves as you can't see
them. On the dawn shift, that changed and we were wondering why we were here!
Moving on deck required clipping and unclipping on a wet and slippy deck that
was more complicated than a via ferrata!
Down below, it was just as difficult as we moved from
handhold to handhold trying to get lifejackets, waterproofs, jackets, fleeces,
shoes and trousers on and off without falling over too many times. Yes, as we
head South, it has become a lot colder and shorts and Ts have been replaced with
Scottish sailing outfits (if only we had thought to bring them!). We have been
on a starboard tack for most of our trip and staying in your bunk to sleep on
the port side has gone from a minor inconvenience to near impossible as the
winds picked up. Janet has moved in with Nic on the starboard side and I've
moved into the saloon. The good news is that we achieved 170 miles
upwind in the last 24 hours and only have 204 miles to go.
With the rough sea we have unable to try further
attempts to fix the engine but we hope to have another go tomorrow with the
lighter wind forecast. This involves taking all the gerry cans, gas canisters,
stern anchor and rubbish bags out of the stern locker and climbing in to bleed
the fuel pipe, plus checking and tightening all the clips etc before we have
another shot to see if we have sorted the airlock issue. West Coast Marine in
Troon has been a huge help in diagnosing the issue and suggesting remedies
to let us arrive and dock in Whangerai. The final few miles may
still be the most challenging leg of our 1250+ miles trip!
Hoping you are enjoying and feel part of our trip.
No need to worry about us, we have just had a delicious supper, the solar panels
are keeping the batteries charged, we have lots of water, maybe
not enough for a much needed shower but we can't have
everything!
Love
All the crew on Skyeblue
xxx
32:46.6495S 175:37.4207E
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