It's been 48hrs since we left Table Bay in high spirits with family & friends waving us off. Since then, things have been... busy! The staring wind was great, a SW breeze whisked us up the coast, but soon after dark things went somewhat pear shaped! The wind started to pick up quickly & before we knew it we were fighting for our lives to get the spinnaker down. Just when we thought we'd done it, a loud crack told us that the spinnaker halyard block had burst off the mast! This was the start of an action packed 48hrs. Since then we've discovered a leak in our diesel tank, having lost about 25lts of fuel into the bilges. Then mid afternoon on day 1, while stuck in a patch of very light wind, our beautiful big mast head spinnaker blew a shackle at the top of the mast, plunging us into more chaos. Last night the wind swept from a pleasant 18 to 26 knots in about 20minutes, causing us to again fight chaotically to keep our spinnaker, though we lost a guy rope in the battle.
But it hasn't all been problems! It is incredibly beautiful out here, the sea displaying an amazing range of temperaments in the only 2 days. We've had dolphins off our bow often & managed to make 175 miles in day 1 & are
up to 340 today. Alex caught a fish off the back - two in fact! The second was a yellowfin tuna hich made for delicious eating after preparations by Saths. We've had naked bottoms on the stern during shower hour & aside from the usual struggles of sea sickness everyone is doing well. Sea a bit of a rodeo show today, but after another 7 odd degrees N we'll start peeling off - to Rio!
What a start to the journey! At least you can practice your emergency management early.
ReplyDeleteVery impressed with the progress so far, I see you have gone quite far north compared to the majority of the field.
Alex the bread (fish) winner for the boat hey! Good luck with the sea-sickness and I hope you have some good sailing weather!
Hey, did u have chopsticks for the sushi? Val, mike
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