Fw: Day 7 - Into the Trades
Jacana
David Munro
Wed 21 Jan 2009 15:31
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jacana
To: Mailasail
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 6:43 PM
Subject: Fw: Day 7 - Into the Trades ----- Original Message -----
From: Jacana
To: Mailasail
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 6:44 PM
Subject: Day 7 - Into the Trades The title of this piece refers to geography rather
than our work plans post this adventure.
The passing of the Meridian line went well, without
incident - Neptune was toasted with a glass of South African Brandy and we
managed to power the boat up through the night under spinnaker for the
first time as the conditions moderated once again. As a result we have managed
to hold our own against similarly rated boats in the 24hour run. We managed a
220 mile run on the water translated into a 199 mile run on the
course. Jacana is heavier than most of our competitors so we are
revising the calculation of the amount of water we need to carry for
safety. Showers all round to use up the surplus. Today finds us
wearing Sue's new light weight runner in pink & grey, a very well
behaved sail which matches Chris's pink floppy hat.
We have decided, against conventional racing
wisdom, to trail a lure and chance our luck at some fresh fish in the form of a
tuna. David & John spent a good hour un-tangling the line at the rear of the
boat. Eventually everything was ready and thrown overboard - at which point
the only wildlife of the day flew into view and took a great interest in the
lure. The bird was a new one to us, white, flappy wings, orange beak etc
etc (note to self. buy an I-spy book of birds when ashore)
We quickly pulled the lure back in and the bird
dive bombed the boat squawking at us for removing his intended lunch., At dusk
we tried again but are somewhat nervous that Chris's natural empathy with the
animal kingdom will lead him to cut it loose when no-one is
watching.
Food Report
The last of the bread, now green, went over the
side yesterday.
Other fresh food is now showng signs of rot. Race
against microbes has us wolfing fruit.
Onions and cabbage remain resolute against
decay and we are hopeful they will go at least another week.
The chicken last night was well past its eat by
date but a hard boil in curry sauce saw off any dodgy consequences.
The sausage and bacon in the cool box is still ok
but not sure for how long.
It is clear that life will reduce to pasta and
packet sauces before this race is run. Collapsed spinnaker excuses of the
day.
A flock of sea-gulls momentarily distracted
me.
We went over a wave
We went over the wrong sort of wave
We went over the wrong colour of wave
The dynamic damping in the B&G true wind angle
should be set at 6 and not 5.
The heading is magnetic when the true wind angle is
true (by definition) and the two don't alter at the same rate.
Velocity header
The wind keeps changing direction
I spilt my tea
I fell asleep
I had to avoid a floating bottle
I was looking at something in the
water
From some members of our fan base we have
received requests for more photos, I am sorry to advise that you may have
visited the wrong Web Site, Jacana isn't that sort of boat. However, we have
attached a picture of one of our crew members in training on the bonnet of our
car in Cape Town before the start.
Paul's dream of the day
Paul sleeps a lot and he who sleeps a lot, dreams a
lot. Happily he has taken to sharing some of his more coherent
subconscious experiences with us. As you can imagine we all find this
really fascinating and in order not to deprive a wider audience of a
taste of this entertainment highlight a short extract is included
below.
"I was working in my garden shed, when I popped
outside I found the shed was suspended in mid air about 1000 feet up. I noticed
that I was wearing my life jacket as I managed to grab onto the threshold of the
shed door avoiding falling. I crawled around to the side window where I managed
to pull myself back in thus avoiding a certain fall to my death. Relieved I set
about my shed type business only to find that during my brief walkabout, zombies
had decided to use it as a squat!"
We believe these musings to be benign but if anyone
more qualified has a different view, please let us know.
Recipe of the day - Beer Bread
Mix two cups of flour with one bottle of Heineken
beer (sponsor please note)
Cook blobs in frying pan
Use for lunch as bacon sandwiches and as
jam scones -Yum
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