So the sailing has settled down somewhat (touch wood) & now with the new watch schedule Derek (a.k.a Skip) implemented, life's a little less monotonous. Then again there are always nights like last night to destroy monotony. Last night sucked. The chaos began late afternoon when a 27 knot gust caught mike up on the helm, spinnaker and all. Luckily we got things under control again without any casualties but half an hour later we were
crawling along with no wind. So up came the sleepy crew to help shake out the reef etc. 12 pm saw another emergency waking of some crew as it seemed we may be crossing paths with a large ship spotted off port side & wanted to be ready to gybe; but again, false alarm. Shortly there after, quiet weather make the Skip decided to launch the bag again, so the now very tired & grumpy crew were brought up again to launch. It didn't go well. The bag came up with a big twist in the top - luckily! We dropped the bag & awaiting the re-pack, a 30 knot gust came ripping into the boat. Murray & Alex were in total confusion on the fore deck; one second launching the bag, the next bringing it down, then suddenly the boat spun up to wind & waves came flooding over them. Of course at this stage communication was rather tricky too & no one seemed to know which sails were going up or what was going on. Eventually the reef was in, the drenched crew back in the cock pit & things back to some form of normality. The damages included a broken battern in the Genoa, a lost set of gloves & a smashed GPS screen. The reef was shaken out about 30 minutes later - sailing!
Undoubtedly the merriest aspect of our current position now is the full cooperation of Dirty Dorris our Diesel Engine. You see, Dorris is vital for recharging batteries & making fresh water. So when she refused to start on days 2 & 3 it was a little more than worrying. Diesel Derek (as we call him) spent each morning for about 5 days hauling out the staircase & giving Dorris some TLC, always getting her to start & inevitably having her die in a spluttering cough a couple of minutes later. Her ills are fixed now though & today for the 3rd time she ran seamlessly. We love you Dorri!
Other little highlights include a new max speed reached by the boat! Mike clocked 20.7 knots with a reef in & Genoa up the other night! (Before the death of the GPS) & everyone is now 100% over sea-sickness.
No comments:
Post a Comment