It's far from over.....
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Fri 14 Oct 2011 10:28
|
Friday 14th October 0930 UTC 1030 BST
25:51.98N 016:56.17W
Wind: 25 Knots Force 6 North East, COG 342 Deg
True, SOG 7 knots ( but VMG to waypoint as it has been on average for these past
few days 4.3 Knots!)
Yesterday was gruelling. My main concern was trying
to prevent something breaking. But of course you have to keep some way on - so
it is trying to find the balance. The vigilance on looking out for breakages
paid off - sort of.
First in the early morning (before my 1st blog
) I noticed a clanking coming from the port side. It weasn't hard to spot the D1
or the inner shroud (the lower part of the rigging which keeps the mast up)
flaying around!
I had to keep the wind on the starboard side to
keep the load off the port side shrouds - so this left the port - leeward - deck
awash regularly with breaking waves over the bow cascading along the
deck.
So I started preparing. Getting the tools all
ready, my clothes off and the lifejacket/ harness on. Clothes off? This is because the decks were swept regularly with
a lot of water and I didn't see any point in getting clothes drenched to then
take below. Personally I thought I looked quite fetching....... Sea temperature
here is 24 C (it peaked in the Doldrums at 29.8 C )
So it was armed with allen keys and two very big
shifters I waded my way along the side deck and in ten minutes had the
shroud re-tensioned. They must not have been evenly tensioned when redone
in Capetown and the heavy loads have probably put in a little stretch in them
and exposed the imbalance in tension too.
Next I noticed the RIB hanging a little loose. Not
like "cool" hanging loose, but 500 kg of glass fibre, rubber and Honda engine,
hanging loose. I noticed that one of the ratchet restaining straps had broken,
chafed through, and one of the winch lifting straps seemed to have come out of
the davit a little and the weight of the dingy was lying on the belly straps. So
it was a question of re-tensioning the lifting strap with the winch and
tightening the belly straps.
This is all a little precarious as it involves me
being out on the transom, albeit strapped on and leaning out on the dingy,
hoping the last of the fixings don't give way and leave my hanging on my strap
and harness!
So after crossing the line and closing my
circumnavigation of the world, later in the evening the wind started to
ease a bit to a more steady 18 - 20 knots though of course still right on the
nose.
An ever greater vigilance needs to be kept now too.
For two reasons - primarily because we are in a much greater area of shipping
traffic while closing the Canaries and secondly because there could be a natural
tendency having closed the circle to think that the job is done....... But it's
far from over.
Having a luxury one hour nap this morning just
before 0500 I sensed a change in motion and noise and got up to the wind howling
at 28 knots and seas building with rolling white crests assaulting Rhiann
Marie.
It was on hands and knees I managed to get to
the controls to reef down more and ease the main sheet. After making any
change in sail plan it takes some considerable time to rebalance the boat with
lots of further tweaking till we find our new groove.
I had hardly finished all of that when there
was a bang and I knew the Rib had given way. With it hanging precariously
from the starboard side and only the last of its additional lines holding it on
port, I gathered my thoughts and gathered the neccessary tools etc. I also put
in a tack to change the load to the other davit.
Now it's true, I have had problems with this
Rib several times on this adventure already, but wakeboarding was great craic,
even if I was not that good at it .........
From experience, it was now strapped in place
with a reinforced stailess steel lifting bar to which the main winch
lifting strap is shackled to. Then there are belly straps which come under the
rib to cleats on the davit posts. Then I have added ratchet straps on either
side pulling towards each other. Then I have added an additional line each side
holding the dingy in to the davits, then I have added on each side, a rope
passing round the davit arm itself and round the lifting points on each side (in
case the lifting shackles break). So you would think that would be enough.
However like Houdini it can't just be kept in its
bonds. The dingy tubes swell with air pressure when in hot climes - the
Doldrums - thereby expanding and extra tensioning everything. However
like Houdini's muscles, contracting to loosen his bonds, in the colder
relative temperatures - ie here, this is enough to induce just enough slack to
allow chafe to start it's deadly work.
And so it was I have spent the first few hours of
this morning in a force 6 working on the transom of the boat and on the dingy,
sometimes up to my knees in water, rescuing my dingy again. I really don't know
why. It has been so trashed on this adventure that it's new home may have to be
a dump anyway............
Apart from that it's been all quiet and not much
doing. Wind right now is blasting away at me at 28 knots and the seas are over
three metres now and progress is very slow......
It's been almost three weeks sice I've seen
another human and I had hoped to arrive tomorrow but it's a bit touch and go at
the moment. Another day won't matter as long as I and the boat stay safe
which it has to be said is something of a challenge in itself.
Song of the day: Keep on Rocking Me - Steve Miller
Band
Now! you freeloaders out there.... where are your
e-mails? I have had some great correspondence and every single mail is
appreciated. Of course I can't reply to all of them - there is only one of me.
But apparently there are 24,000 of you! If you've been mailing - keep them
coming........ if you haven't why not? Heres the hyperlink rhiann {DOT} marie {CHANGE TO AT} gaelforce {DOT} net GET
TYPING!
Thanks to all of you for accompanying me
"virtually" on this incredible voyage of discovery......
|