Long distance picnic outing!
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Fri 2 Jul 2010 02:52
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July 1st 1600 local 0200UTC 2nd July
15:06.9S 156:41.7W
Since discovering the problem with the genoa
forestay yesterday we have been sailing under a combination of sail plans. When
we have had any angle to work at all we could have the main and the jib with a
very open leech but that is quite slow as it is really an up wind sail. We have
motor sailed when the winds have been very light and directly behind us and
today we have flown the asymetric spinnaker for most of the day in very light
winds but from a more northerly aspect so that gave us sufficient apparent wind
to keep moving but it has been slow, slow, slow. The wind has been between 6
& 10 knots around 110 degrees to our course and we have probably averaged 6
knots. The genaker however requires constant attention and niether Trish alone
nor Niall alone should be left with it during the night so we will probably
revert to motor sailing when it gets dark. Last night I slept just over an hour
in total so Trish taking over at 0600 let me get a few of hours sleep to
catch up. Lucky that I had all that sleep deprivation practice at all night
parties when I was younger.
We still hope to make our picnic spot on Saturday.
To put the location of our picnic spot (Suwarrow) into perspective relative to
Bora Bora - it is like leaving my home islands of the Hebrides and sailing right
past western Iceland to within about 150 miles of the East Coast of
Greenland. Some picnic outing! I hope that our trip will be worth
while, but for now there is still a long way to go. So far our jury rig to
hold the forestay down is holding and the forecast winds are due to get lighter
and the seas slighter - so, fingers
crossed.
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