15th June Day 3 Azores - Falmouth 41:44.000N 023:50.000W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Sun 16 Jun 2013 14:20
|
"15th June Day 3 Azores - Falmouth"
Only 926 miles to go! We had a fairly good
night which started calmly heading just north of east. Slowly the wind
came round and sent us south. Not where we want to go and worse still, we were
doing it quickly. As it was my watch I had to do something. So first
things first, I persuaded Windy Bill to try a little harder, with marginal
effect. Next, I had to release the preventor on the boom (remnants of the
previously following wind), so that I could pull in the main. Now, Whisper
was coming round, but the reefed mainsail was overpowering the reefed jib, which
kept collapsing and causing unbearable shuddering throughout the boat. There was
only one thing left to do, furl the jib in some more. As you know we are a
little careful with the furling gear, it has been a problem since we were in
Madeira and now has circlips and tape to hold in the screws which keep working
their way undone. The last thing that I wanted to do was to inadvertently
let the whole sail out. Nervously I released the jib sheet hanging on to
it so that it didn't thrash itself unmercifully, while I struggled across the
wet cockpit to get to the furling line to uncleat it, take the weight of
the jib and release it so that I could roll some more of the jib in. I
did this and made off the furling line. Still clutching the jib sheet
and trying to get myself back to the winch to wind it in, my hero skipper
arrived in the nick of time, took the jib sheet from me and wound it in on the
winch! Mission accomplished! Although, not the perfect course, we
were now no longer heading south.
We are now on a perfect course east heading towards
Vigo in Spain! I am going to download a new GRIB file so that we can
have a cup of tea, with a piece of Azorian cake and hold a meeting to
discuss our next move, by then the wind may have altered more favourably for
us.
All is well and we are not starving
yet!
|