20:51N 35:39W 29th November - Oops we did it again!
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Sun 29 Nov 2009 21:46
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Hi folks,
While the weather and sailing was great again today
with nice winds in the right direction.they seemed to be dropping off mid
morning so we decided that we wanted to fly our Spinnaker. We were
cautious flying it without the other sails as it is easier to control that way
and there is no large main sail and boom to worry about when we come to put it
away. It is however more effort. Sadly it will be our last day
flying the kite on this trip as Oops we did it again and ripped it.
Different cause this time and different place, it is in fact not such a bad tear
and can be much more easily fixed, sadly we dont have a sewing machine to do it
with, Hand sticking such an area is not feasible and the patching tape we carry
is not strong enough for the area we need to fix. So back in the bag till
St Lucia. We are managing quite good speed on our white sails with the
current wind and we hope the less windy spots near the Carribean will have
livened up by the time we get there. We have good wind for the next 3 days
in the forecast in any case.
Again the wind was not so strong and we were
sailing quite comfortably but one big wave came and turned the boat causing the
sail to wrap itself around the forestay from where despite much sweat and
surprisingly little swearing I could not get it free. To get it down we
had to turn the boat full circle to unwind the mess and the pressure of going
head to wind with such a huge sheet and the ensuing trhashing about was enough
to tear it along one edge. It also ripped apart the metal ring fastening
at the top of the mast to which a block is attached. That is no big deal
and I carry a spare for that, but sadly no spare sail.
Well I hope that is the end to any failures, the
Generator is a big dissapointment but we can manage with the engine. today
was fine, even running the water maker for 2 hours we had to run the Engine for
3 hours in 1 hour bursts to keep the charge up. I think if we hand steer
some more it will be better as the autopilot uses a lot, though after a rough
and sleepless night and breaking the spinnaker I think we are all quite tired
today. Perhaps unfortunately I have drawn the night shift and will stay up
till midnight, after having completed the last shift 4am till 8am last night it
makes for a long day. The wind is a little less tonight and since we have
changed tack we are finding the ride smoother. The wind has shifted a
little and if it continues around to the east (as forecast) we can take this
tack all the way to St Lucia, for now we are a little off th ideal course but in
the direction many other boats have taken.
looking around our Norwegian friends on a boat
called Odin who have been following us for 2 days went on a more southerly route
earlier in the day (obably trying to get away from the nutters with the
Spinaker), so now we are on our own tonight no lights from other boats to be
seen in any direction, though with such a bright moon I am not sure we can
clearly see boat lights from any distance anyway.
So tomorrow is our big half way milestone (or so we
have calculated) according to the information we are getting from the ARC team
our course looks like being on or around 2800 miles and we will tomorrow have
travelled 1400 miles at some time before lunch (we hope). In addition to
our luxurious lunch Dugald has reminded me of our discussion regarding a mid
Atlantic Swim. This will I fear depend on the weather. Jumping in in
Turtle alley was all very well. While there was a large atlantic swell it
was all very gentle and there was no real waves like we have now it was more of
a millpond with large rollers every 100m. Also there was little or no
wind. here we have quite a lot of wave action and up to 20 knots so the
boat will move off without any sails up. I don't think there is a danger
of losing someone but it may be diffilcut for them to get back on board with the
waves we have. On the other hand we could take a look at the exhaust for
the generator, and according to the charts the sea is quite warm. If we
see a turtle there will be no stopping us. Expect a full report
tomorrow.
Bye for now (see additional mail for some
pictures)
Ben
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