Atlantic Day 6
Swiftwing
Sat 1 Dec 2007 18:22
|
Lat/Lon at 1200 GMT: 22:15.77N
22:58.73W
As if making up for yesterday, today has been
our best day of sailing so far. The lat/lon only shows our progress at noon, but
we have been going from strength to strength since then.
Neil and myself were on the 9-12 watch last
night as Swiftwing screamed along at 8-10 knots on all sails. After our
watch, before going to bed, Dougie had us help roll up the jib and take
down the mizzen, slowing us down to about 6 knots, and jibe so we were heading
more in the right direction.
We have held cource all day, heading South-West
and surfing down 3 meter rollers at 6-7 knots on the main alone thanks to 25
knot winds. The ocasional 'big one' came on us from behind like a wall of
water, but we always just rode up and down again. Alan mentioned earlier today
that if we were experiencing the same in the North Sea or on the West coast,
we'd be having some major worries, but because the sun was shining, everything
seems so much happier. For the most part, we're just happy to be making decent
ground - sorry, sea - after yesterday and hoping that this keeps up all the way
to St. Lucia. Swiftwing, is taking everything in her stride, not having
trouble with the large seas.
The wind had increased to 30-35 knots in the
last half hour and myself, Douglas, Neil and Alan had a fun trip to the foredeck
to take the main down. As I type we are sailing at around 6 knots with just
half of the jib unrolled and the boat is loving it. We are the ones having
trouble, falling around while in the saloon or galley, usually when we try to
rescue things like the biscuit tin when they fall to the floor. In
order to type this blog without falling out of the comfy chairs, I have strapped
a large sail tie around my chest and the back of the chair. It's working really
well.
Lets hope we manage to get a decent sleep
tonight, although it'll still be worth the progress if we don't.
John
|