17:45.91N 33:38.91W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Mon 30 Nov 2009 12:42
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Monday 30th November, 10am.
Wahaaaaay........Just scream if you want to go
faster!!!
Well that was an interesting nights sailing out
here in the deep blue!! Last night was one of those great experiences when we
had 30 kts of wind (just less than the first nights blow), full main (later to
be reefed) and poled out gennie and we were screaming down 4-5m waves at over 11
knots in the dark. When you're on the helm, you can see these beasts of waves
passing either sides of you (if you look up), you'll just feel the transom kick
out under your feet and then the survival instincts kick in as you know you're
at the top and its only downhill from then on!! You take the helm over to
counteract the kick and the sails crack as they power up and send you downwards.
All you can see is the wall of water from the wave in front, no sky, just water.
Centre the helm to stop the gybe, check the wind angle and then set yourself up
for another roller coaster ride, only another 3 hours of this til the other
watch come to relieve you....yeeehaaaw!!
That's just the ondeck experience, those off watch
couldn't be left out of this, so just picture the scene, you are laying on your
back, head first on the front of an olympic bobsleigh, well that's what those in
the forward cabin have to get through in order to get any sleep! Throw in the
fact that it is also a sauna down there (even at midnight) and there is no
wonders why you find Tony or myself wandering around the saloon, on our
respective off watches, trying to find some semblance of coolness. Those in the
aft cabins only have it marginally better (and that is debatable) as they are
able to open a couple of hatches to get some airflow, but that's offset by the
risk of water coming through should we have a wave break over the stern
quarters.
Sunday certainly proved to be a great day
progresswise and looks like we covered 180+ miles in the right direction, along
with inching our way through the cruising fleet. The afternoon position reports
are eagerly awaited by both watches and a positive position movement certainly
increases our morale and even more so our main competitor Mabi Too is
further behind. No one has wanted to mention it before but we're approaching the
half way point and should pass this in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Back
on the dock in Las Palmas, we all had great plans of how we would celebrate this
milestone, champagne, rum, cigars, but to be honest given the wind and sea
state, no one is up for anything - we may delay the celebration until things
calm down a touch and there is also St Lucia when we can party twice as hard
(after no alcohol for 20 days, and several Goombay Smash that shouldn't take too
long!).
The other watch (Pat, Moira and Tony) spotted the
first satellite for the trip just before dawn and later a dolphin started to
play on the bow for a couple of minutes. Hopefully this is just the first of
many that we'll see on this trip.
Anyway, it's hot and humid down here at the nav
station so I need to go out for some air and another drink, so that's it from
Tioram for today!
Love to all at home and hope you all have a good
start to the week.
Mike, Tony, Tina, Pat, Moira and
Al
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