A Different Day
Samaritan
Tim Vaughan
Thu 20 Jun 2019 11:12
Whoop Whoop, leg 2 is definitely underway.
As the sun went down last night you could feel that things were on the change as the sea had ceased to have that glassy look and the wind was slowly filling in from behind. Wanting to keep up with the pack, I went through the night with the geneker out and was initially managing to do 2-3 kts in about 5kts of breeze. At 08.30 this morning (more of that in a minute) we were romping along at 7kts in 10 kts of breeze and on a good course too. We had even managed to catch up with a couple of boats.
The wind is steadily building, 15kts from the south with occasional gusts up to 18kts so I have taken the difficult decision to drop the geneker early as it can be a bugger to furl away on your own in higher winds (Billy, knows what I mean.....). As it was, I chose a moment when the wind had dropped but it pissed down instead and I got bloody soaked. Welcome to the second leg I thought!.
The latest weather update suggests me keeping well below the straight line course, heading ENE, to making the most of the southerly air flow for most of today and Friday. Things should then liven up as the wind increases and goes westerly and we can then climb North again. The conditions will initially favour those boats with spinakers as they can take a more direct route if they wish, until the wind gets up and the sea builds....
So back to last night.... I slept most off it!!! I was very good with my 15 minute alarms, then going to 30 minutes. Samaritan just increased her speed as the wind built without any tweaks, so I every time I woke I just checked speed/direction and listened to the happy sound of water rushing under the boat before going back to sleep. The next thing I knew it was 08.30. My last kip was over an hour and when I looked at the clock it felt like the old days of being late for work.
Life on board is back to normal, we’re on STB tack so I’m wedged at the nav table typing this. I’ve had to get my boots on again and, despite washing them in Ponta, they stink already.
Last nights cottage pie was scrummy, I’ll have to consult Mandy’s list to see what’s in store for me tonight.
War Of The Worlds was great, one CD so I heard it all in one go. What a great voice Richard Burton had. I had it on very loud in the cockpit and Nirvana said they were also listening to it as we were very close at one stage.
So I’m going to get the bgan satellite unit out, kindly loaned by Ed of Mailasail, and post this blog. It’s great as it lets you send photo’s. I just need to find some interesting things to photograph!.
