Position: 037degs 00' 83N 152degs 36' 06E
Boat time: 18:30hrs
Today is the 6 month marker since the race start in Hull last September and all the round the worlders, and everyone who was in Hull to see the boat off on Leg 1, can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone or how much further there is still to go!
This morning on watch was fantastic! The sun was out, the foulies (foul weather gear) were off and we were cruising nicely along at a steady 8 knots. A welcome respite after the last few days of tough seas and heavy winds. We've had some damage to our main(sail), a rip about 18 inches long on the luff (the nearest edge of the sail to the mast) by the second reefing point. Charles and and Chris worked all through their morning watch and into the afternoon watch to get it fixed as fast as possible and they've done a fabulous job. Whilst they were working the rest of their watch checked over all the other sails and discovered a couple of small holes in the Yankee 3 (foresail) which were repaired by the Skipper as Chris and Charles worked the main.
We've seen some epic winds over the last few days. The biggest gust I saw on the instruments read 55knots! Luckily, at the time, we were going dead down wind with just our sturdy little stay sail pulling us along. With the surf as well, we reached upto around 17 knots with just the one sail up! Really quite unbelievable! We've seen massive waves - between 6 and 8 metres - but, fortunately, they are relatively gently sloping swells although it doesn't feel like it when you're on the bow helping with an evolution! (sail change)
All was calm when I went to bed at lunchtime and I was gently rocked to sleep - only to be rudely woken up a couple of hours later as the on watch dropped the Yankee 2 (another foresail - different size) and the pole, hoisted the (repaired) Yankee 3 and put a reef in the mainsail. Something tells me the night watch will not be a quiet one!
Thankyou for all your comments and notes of encouragement. Dad keeps forwarding them to me and they're really great to read and keep me going sometimes! Not long 'til I'm home now and I can't wait to see you all and tell you about it first hand! xxx
Spot the crew on the bow
I love the way you are translating some of the sailing jargon now for some of us non-sailing folk, but i still dont quite get all of it, but maybe im just a bit thick! Keep going Jamaica, looking good for some more points at the scoring gate!
ReplyDeleteA bit more translation for Jonathan and other none-sailors....55 knots of wind is difficult to stand up in.... 17 knots in a yacht in 8m waves is akin to driving a 40 ton truck at 80 miles an hour on a motorway that keeps tipping one way then the other, then forward then back, then all at once! Great blog, Lily, glad you're getting more confident in handling the boat and relishing the conditions. Good luck over the next few days and keep enjoying yourself.
ReplyDeleteWally
PS for Jonathan - evolutions, Yankee 2s and 3s are all news to me and I've been sailing for 50 years!