33.28:92N 057.40:02W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Mon 17 May 2010 18:43
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Date 17 May Time 11:14 boat time
Hello from Tioram
Well we are still out here after one week! The
weather over the last 24 hours has been mixed. The 14:00 to 20:00 watch saw a
small front cross over the boat with cloudy skies and a little rain. We had been
running with a poled out genoa and main but as fronts do the wind veered and we
had wind from the NW. This enabled us to point for the Azores and although the
wind was light made reasonable progress. A complaint has been lodged to the
committee by this watch that this was the third time that it has rained on
the voyage and it had always been on this watch. A new rule has been proposed
that the next time it rains the lads watch will be immediately on deck to get
wet. At midnight the wind started to die and the boat started to roll in the
sloppy sea. This is not an easy point of sailing as the boom crashes over with
not enough wind to keep it out. Anyway we struggled on and probably only made 4
knots on average but its better than using up precious diesel.
The watch change at 4:00 am had better wind and the
spinney was put up and we were off in the right direction at 7.5 knots.
Crew like this watch as dawn happens about 4:00am so this is now a daylight
watch. At 8:00 am John was woken to the need for all crew on deck as the
spinney needed dropping in 20 knots of breeze. Job successfully completed we
changed back to white jobbies poled out. John was heard to complain that he had
been woken without the offer of a cup of tea, told to take the wheel and then
found out the watch had gorged on bacon sarnies 30 mins before. He
is trying to remember what the 7 P's stand for
but it begins with proper pre planning prevents ppp!
To diffuse what could have been a delicate
situation James made us all a cup of tea. Compliments were passed on the quality
of the beverage and James was heard to say that " he didn't often do this at
home" James's mom could be on a winner here. One of the
advantages with rowing the Atlantic on your own is that there's no one to
rat on you. The situation was further diffused by Malte cooking open
egg and tomato toasted sandwiches for all.
We now have a bit of a dilemma. As James has just
polished off his third breakfast we are running out of words to describe the
meal. Breakfast, brunch and ?
The weather for the next few days is a bit of a
problem. An intense high is building in the Atlantic just ahead of us which
means very light winds. We are working north of our track to pick up some better
winds by the end of the week but don't expect any rapid progress. We still have
3/4 of our diesel left but at 1,450 miles to go we need to keep sailing even
though it is slow. Tibbs is working on putting us in the best
position to get better winds.
Otherwise we are all well fed, well rested and even
skip has stopped looking at his water tank guage. The moratorium on clothes
washing seems to be working.
A rival award has been invented. Although not
as prestigous as the Ula award, this one seems to be in the skippers gift and
the criteria seem somewhat haphazard. The award is called the Heineken and skip
awarded to John we think for services to the blog. Morale immediately took a
rise.
The Ula award has to go to Malte for his bacon
sarnies.
Cheers from Tioram
Post script from Tina, ----Provisioning for long
ocean passages is always a little stressful---- things like how long will the
fresh fruit and veg last, what if the fridge breaks or power goes down, fresh
food, tinned food, dried food-- eat by day 3 eat by day 6, consider rough seas
and quick meals or ready mades, what happens if the bread goes moldy quickly,
carry bread mix and throw into that an unknown accurate sailing time --16
to 20 days times 5 people----drinks, tea, coffee, sugar, oh washing up liquid
---- and before long your head spins.
This is when my contigency plan comes into
play----in other words throw in a few extra. Those friends who have sailed with
us know that my contigency is usually substancial.
Well guys thank goodness for the contingency on
this trip. Take one very nice Atlantic Rower (James) and imagine a guy who has
spent 110 days rowing from La Gomera in the Canaries to Antigua. Nearly 4
months at sea and in the last month he was severely racioning and had to have
food taken out to him by an open 60 racing yacht when 300 miles out of Antigua.
The poor guy arrived --what we now know to be a shadow of his former self, he
then spent 2 weeks in Antigua grazing continuously before sailing with
us.
He is now looking great and we are priviledged to
have someone who has achieved so much on board.
However, a note when provisioning--make sure your
contingency is large when including a hungry Atlantic rower as part of your
crew. We are teasing him mercilously as he grazes through 2 breakfasts and a pre
lunch lunch before 11.30 am !!! Note to skipper , size 00 girls may not
eat at all as part of a crew ????
love to all x x x
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