Days 1-5
We were expecting a gentle run in of a couple of days downwind sailing in about 15knots. What we got was upwind Force 8s and 9s (35+knots) and two days of headsail changes and deckwork in howling bitingly cold winds and rain.
Our staysail tore in half on day 2, and is currently occupying most of the saloon as we attempt a repair. Luckily my Scopoderm patches appear to be doing a magic job of fending off sea sickness, and my drysuit has been a godsend, even if I do have to be physically stuffed into it by the time I've put all my midlayers on (imagine a 5foot 4in michelin man...).
Today and yesterday have seen lighter winds and a chance to get the spinnaker back up, the boat to dry out a little, and crew to catch up slightly on sleep and changes of clothes.
I'm on mother watch today, which has proved less chilled out than usual; the routine of spinnaker up, spinnaker down, yankee up, yankee down that is becoming unpleasantly familiar meant that watches were late off deck and we didn't get breakfast finished until 11.30. Just in time to start lunch for 12.30, which wasn't finished until 2pm, at which point there were the toilets to clean, the boat to anti-bac, and the bilges to pump out.
Still, a full nights sleep last night was good, tho' didn't make up for the disappointment of finding out that we don't have enough water for showers at the moment - there's only so much you can do with a packet of wet wipes!
Our staysail tore in half on day 2, and is currently occupying most of the saloon as we attempt a repair. Luckily my Scopoderm patches appear to be doing a magic job of fending off sea sickness, and my drysuit has been a godsend, even if I do have to be physically stuffed into it by the time I've put all my midlayers on (imagine a 5foot 4in michelin man...).
Today and yesterday have seen lighter winds and a chance to get the spinnaker back up, the boat to dry out a little, and crew to catch up slightly on sleep and changes of clothes.
I'm on mother watch today, which has proved less chilled out than usual; the routine of spinnaker up, spinnaker down, yankee up, yankee down that is becoming unpleasantly familiar meant that watches were late off deck and we didn't get breakfast finished until 11.30. Just in time to start lunch for 12.30, which wasn't finished until 2pm, at which point there were the toilets to clean, the boat to anti-bac, and the bilges to pump out.
Still, a full nights sleep last night was good, tho' didn't make up for the disappointment of finding out that we don't have enough water for showers at the moment - there's only so much you can do with a packet of wet wipes!
posted by Simon Eastwood at 5:48 pm
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