25 / 1 / 2011

This morning was the first day of what the Cape to Rio is supposed to be like - apparently! We're right up North, skirting the South Atlantic High Pressure cell & are firmly in the 12-15 knot breeze fondly known as the

"Trade Winds"; with baking sunny days & warm, cloudy nights. This does mean an end to our awesome 180 mile/24hr runs for now, but at least we're sailing at 270 degrees - straight to Rio!

Adjusting to the Trade Winds was not all that easy though. We got into them yesterday & so for the first time decided to hoist our very light (0.5 Oz) spinnaker. 10-12 knot breeze made it hard to keep the bag flying

& so helming a 2.5 hour shift in the baking sun was hard work. It was then no surprise when poor Mike lost concentration for a moment at the helm & wrapped the spinnaker around the fore stay - thoroughly! Lots of exotic

language was used as we fought to try unwrap it; the wind wrapping it tighter & tighter at every chance. Eventually after 45 minutes of struggling & rather crafty manipulation we got it out, flying perfectly save for a few pin prick holes around the top of the bag. Apparently that was enough though when 20 minutes later (poor mike still helming!) the bag just tore through at the top & came drifting down to deck. Just to top it all off the halyard somehow got jammed too & the shredder frame of the bag refused to come down. So in a mass maintenance manoeuvre the main was dropped & Murray was once again hoisted 15m up in rolling seas to free the trapped halyard & fix the mast-head halyard block which broke about a week ago. The hour long session of delicate work while swinging back & forth through an arc of at least 5m proved too much for Murray's stomach & soon we were all treated to a spectacular show as he projectile launched his lunch from the top of the mast. The crew unanimously agreed that at 15m up & using the roll of the boat this must be a record distance for this type of thing. Neptune seemed equally impressed as shortly there after the winds picked up to a handsome 15 knots.

A final highlight was the capture of our first Dorado yesterday. Wow those fish are ugly. But under the magnificent preparation of the (near naked) Chef Saths Moodley it made for exquisite eating.