Bermuda to Flores, Azores 6 ... Nearly lost the mast by Jen

38:30.172N 34:54.966W

21^st  June 2015

180 Miles To The Azores

10,380 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

Due to bad weather and violent bumping my old silver laptop has finally died. Unfortunately it took 4 or 5 unread emails with it which we can now not recover. If you sent Spectra an email between PM on the 19^th and PM on the 20^th could you resend them please?    

The last two days have been altogether far too eventful. Firstly we were in line for breaking our daily run record of 187 miles when the forestay broke away from the bowsprit and caused several hours of mayhem in the dark. While sailing at 8 knots with the fore sail poled out to starboard the 12 mm thick bar that held the fore stay and furling gear in place sheared along the weld line and set the beast flying in the breeze. How we tamed it is covered by Jen below but we now have three halyards run to the bowsprit and cranked in hard so everything is solid again. Providing that we don’t do anything silly like pulling up the mainsail, the main mast is now in no immediate danger of falling down. The following morning I repaired the beaten up starboard navigation light that had been torn from the rail in the night and later Steve reattached it and surprise, surprise it lit up first try. We do have a secondary attachment position for a fore stay so if we can’t find a welder in Flores all is not lost, but there is no way we can get it connected in the conditions we are presently under, very short lumpy seas and 20+ knots of wind, so it will have to wait. In the mean time we are still managing 4-5 knots average under stay sail and Mizzen (jib and Jigger) which is our storm rig so I am pretty impressed with that. Our present ETA from the plotter is the PM on the 22nd so fingers crossed we will be drinking cold beer in a day or two. All is well with  the gallant crew in our little green boat except for my little finger that got itself caught while wrestling with the forestay and rather hammered into the deck splitting the pad wide open which is just about as painful as it sounds. But Norma has told me that I am a brave little sailor and assures me that my dancing career is not over so all is well with the world. The light at the end of the tunnel has dimmed but remains on. Now some stats and then Jen can have her say.

Day 1              74 miles           (15 hours)

Day 2              115 miles         (Part motoring)           

Day 3              141 miles         (All motoring)

Day 4              116 miles         (Part Motoring)

Day 5              161 miles         (All sailing)

Day 6              172 miles         (All sailing)

            Day 7              149 miles         (All sailing)

Day 8              121 miles         (Part Motoring)

Day 9              129 miles         (All sailing)

Day 10            119 miles         (All sailing)

Day 11            157 miles         (All sailing) ½ under reduced rig

Day 12            121 miles         (All sailing) All under reduced rig

The arrival lottery stands at:

            Paul 21^st AM missed by a mile

            Norma 21^st PM No chance now

            Jen 22^nd AM 100/1 shot

            Steve 22^nd PM On target for the chocolate bar

            Willem 25^th Could be a winner if the winds go very light or something breaks

            Adamant 27^th Now that is just being a bloody pessimist

Why not have a guess yourself it is a great game for all the family (Guess the ETA © Spectra 2015, 1 or more players aged 5 to 80, sorry Roger)

            Hello to you all, it’s Jen again!

Not much happened yesterday daytime, the water was calm and the wind was soft and despite that, we had been doing a steady 8 knots. We kept referring to the Chart plotter (that had been temperamental since the gale) and talking about our bets. It was looking like a very close competition between Steve and I. By the close of the day Norma was looking like she may actually be the winner.

It feels so good to think we are only 2 or 3 days away from land. A place where I can dig my feet into the sand and watch it fall through. Where I can sit at a table and eat my dinner without worrying about it rolling away or landing onto someone else’s plate. Where I can take a shower and not have to turn it off between washing and best of all I can stand up straight, rather than doing my own version of yoga in the bathroom, to stop falling over. All these little things I have started to cherish and wish for. As edible things go a glass of wine and a bite of dark chocolate is on my list, Steve told me not to get my hopes up it is an island, but how could any place not have these two things, I have my fingers crossed!

I went to bed to get some kip before my shift 12-2am……went into a sweet sleep…

AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! MAYHEM OCCURRED!

I was woken by Norma shouting ‘JEN.. we need you on deck NOW!’ waking from my sleep, I hurriedly put my life jacket on and rushed up. I heard some awful noises and tried not to over react to my imagination.

I went up on deck, it was dark already, but the deck was flooded with a strong white light. To my surprise I saw Paul, swamped by a sail on the fore deck. It took me a few seconds to absorb the carnage. The forestay had ripped out of the deck and was now swinging in the wind, Steve and Adam were trying to hold it in place. I was requested to stay in the cockpit and look out for ships while everyone else could concentrate on the mess. Norma pulled the foresail down the port side of Spectra and tied it down with sail straps. Paul and Steve continued to try to fix the forestay to the foredeck. We undid the sheets and other bits of ropes unneeded so Paul, Steve and Adam could rig something up to make this lump of metal stop moving. I was so worried that it would land on someone’s foot the way it kept lifting in the wind and clunking down. Paul made a yelp, and Norma rushed to attend to him (pretty useful having a first aider as a wife) he had crushed his little finger and it was bleeding. Ouch!!! Now he is all bandaged up, poor little finger.

Luckily the men managed to secure the stay down, not in its original place but to starboard foredeck and shrouds. The next thing was to take the strain of the main sail from the mast, as the forestay is a support for the main mast. So we took the sail down and packed it away, and then released the boom so it rested on the deck. We secured this down too. We looked at what was left to sail us to Azores for a further 3 days… we still have the stay sail and the mizzen sail. The deck looked much more organised than the hour before. We put the kettle on and had a cup of tea, yes sooo English!

We have managed to continue on a speed of 4-5 knots. We do have enough fuel to engine us into safely if need be. Now we will have to find a welder in Azores to fix Spectra up. I could see a cloud over Norma and Paul today as they woke to the horrible reality, I do feel so sad for them, that thier beautiful bird has damaged wings, but I know it will get fixed and it will just add to there many amazing crazy stories of their adventure.

 Jens take on her latest experiences with Spectra

Well, there I was on my shift, staring into the mass of sea trying to think of things to write about; as all the exciting events had happened earlier in the week and been written about already; this was before the dramatic event of the night.

Such as the gale force winds we endured. Firstly I’d like to stick up for myself, anyone that was in my position would have sworn if they had been sitting on Spectra as she tumbled down the 10 foot waves which pushed her completely on her side for a good amount of seconds and saw the water come too close for comfort. The wind was so strong it was picking up the top layer of the sea, making visibility poor, the rain hit my face with such force it felt like little needles. My fingers were all shrivelled after being on deck for 5 hours (out of choice) I looked like I’d been in the bath way too long, if only that had been the case! I’d rather see what’s going on than be taunted by the noises of creaking and water splashing against the side with great force, I have too much of a wild imagination, not the best thing at sea! I managed to bite my tongue for the rest of Steve’s shift. Thankfully there was no one to listen to my language when I was on my own shift. Strangely enough I wasn’t scared, I felt quite safe, which was on the contrary of what I expected of myself.

My Atlantic swim or ‘dip’ as Paul put it surprised me greatly as the sea was so warm! I did a little scream on entering the water and I thought I would scream again with hitting the coldness too, but all that came was surprised pleasure. Even though Spectra had all sails down and her motor off, she still pressed though the water faster than I could swim. So I quickly put the life ring around me and promptly got out before a Portuguese Man-O-War came to sting me, they worried me more than the 3 miles of water under my feet.

Well that’s all for now. We are all a bit tired of the current motion of the boat, as we have big waves coming right on our starboard side, making it difficult to do anything, even sleeping. Thank god only two more days to a three course meal! And yes I’ll treat myself to all the trimmings!

Over and out.