Wednesday 6th December
Nowcrew
Wed 7 Dec 2005 13:39
In position 15.02N
59.54W
TWO HUNDRED MILES IN
A DAY!
As dawn broke we
were sailing with a poled out genny and full main - we'd realised the "wine
glass" wrap that we'd encountered in the previously night had been a blessing in
disguise. It had helped us discover what seemed to be the perfect trade wind rig
for Now3. We were hardly dropping below 9.5 knots VMG. This was make up time. We
felt we were drawing in on Charliz and hopefully leaving La Royere
behind.
During the day the
sea built up and we soon found all 25 tons of Now3 surfing down the ocean
rollers like a highly tuned racing boat. The maximum speed built up as the time
to go went down. We peaked at an amazing 15.1 knots and averaged 9.5 knots
throughout the day.
Flying fish were
jumping on to the deck regularly and every time someone took a walk around the
deck they'd have to throw the unfortunate ones that had jumped straight into our
path and onto the boat overboard. These amazing fish have wings, they fly out of
the water for up to a hundred yards and can even steer themselves mid flight.
Here's a one just about to jump into the jaws of Mr Bailey
Down below Andy
filled a mountain of paperwork in preparation for our finish. One of which was
the Yachting World "Great Atlantic Crossing Survey". We all voted on our top 5
most valued pieces of equipment: 1. The auto pilot, without it we'd have had to
hand steer, which would have been a nightmare. 2. The Onan generator, keeping
the batteries charged is an essential part of the boat's management. Without
power we wouldn't have had any pilot or navigational equipment. 3. The
watermaker, it's been great to be able to shower without worry. 4. The
navigational equipment: Maxsea and The Raymarine system who guided us so well
through the weather and seas. 5. The iridium phone (and we so nearly set
sail with a defunct one) it had kept us in emails, weather reports,
position reports and phone calls to our loved ones. (mind you we'd spent nearly
£1200 in call time! Gulp!
Lunch was spag' bol'
ala M&S - followed by a few Magdalenas (little Spanish sweet
buns).
The
afternoon was spent watching all the electronics, we were pushing the boat to
the limits trying to make up for lost time, any mistake now would be costly. The
wind was gusting in excess of 30 knots yet we still had a full main
and genny out. Now3 slipped effortlessly through the
waves the crew cheering at
every surge. The boat was certainly looking after
us.
At
sundowner time there was a de-mob happiness in the air. We drank a bottle of
very powerful vodka kindly supplied by Pete Wilde (thanks "Wildey" shame you
couldn't make it).Then we broke out into song - we went through the whole
repertoire. Ron and Tom even performed their world famous "Allouette"on the back
deck, which was quite a sight with 20 foot rollers behind them. It also involved
a few "never seen before on TV verses.
As
evening closed in Simon produced the last of our fresh meat and veg meals - pork
in Guiness with boiled potatoes. We toasted the chef with a glass or two of
Rioja. We'd eaten like kings on this trip, Simon had been an absolute
star.
We broke
200 miles just after dinner and it looked highly possible that we could finish
the race by sundown the following evening. There were a few conversations about
it being an anti-climax, we'd all gotten on so well and had such a brilliant
time none of us wanted it to end. On the other hand there were bars in St Lucia
with cold beers waiting just for us!
We
received our positions from World Cruising we were now 4th in class, we'd
overhauled La Royere pulling 16 miles ahead of them in 24 hours. We'd caught up
18 miles on Charliz. Northern winds finished sometime mid afternoon after a
couple of phenomenal days sailing. Belle was in at 3rd but already gave us 75
hours on handicap.
It looks
like we'll end up doing reasonably well in the race, however only handicap and
motoring hours will tell.
As Now3 powered on into the night the wind didn't
show any signs of relenting. We had an "all hands" at about 11pm when it was
time to jibe. The jibe went perfectly and everyone scurried off to bed to catch
some well earned zzzs.
Andy and
Dave stayed on watch, just before midnight there was a massive gust and surge
the boat jibed uncontrollably creating so much force it broke a dynema
preventer, however the boom-brake we'd bought in Las Palmas prevented the boom
coming over too quick and the possibility of rig
damage.
This had been one of the most exhilarating days
sailing any of us had ever had.
Nowcrew
out.