It has been... eventful since my last post, thus the missed day.
Shortly after my last post, the wind shifted, as we'd been waiting for.
Suddenly, the boat flattened out, the bouncing died down, and we were
making good time sailing downwind! That lasted about two hours. The wind
then died off before picking up as a headwind again.
Just after I went off watch, the other watch was putting in a reef when a
small section of the mainsail track pulled off the mast. (The main runs up
the mast on sliders along this track.) When I next went on watch, they had
kludged a fix that basically involved cutting out the bent bit of track but
required hand feeding sliders in when working with the main.
But the bigger news was that the spinnaker was up! We were properly sailing
downwind, making good time on a course directly to our waypoint. This was
what we'd been waiting for. As Matt said, it was the day we would find
out whether our race strategy would pay off. We sailed the whole watch
under the kite, but just as we were going off watch, the wind started to
build, and we had to take it down, a big task, which I'll talk about more
another time. After we got it down, we still had to wool it (basically how
you pack away the kite), which ate into my off-watch time, which meant no
post yesterday.
We came back on watch at 10pm, and the wind was way up, 60 knots stead with
gusts in the 90s, I'm told. We had to drop the Yankee 2, which was far too
much sail for the conditions. Initially, the idea was go go to Yankee 3,
but we ended up with the storm jib. Getting a big sail in with that much
wind blowing, water splashing over the bow, and in the dark of night is
hard work. But it's pretty exhilarating as well. (And actually fairly safe.
Everyone keeps well tethered in. But, like a roller coaster, your adrenalin
doesn't necessarily know this.) Meanwhile, as they were taking in the main,
the kludge failed, so there was a lot of work necessary to secure that.
Four hours of intense work under tough conditions, but kind of what I
signed up for.
This morning, we were again sailing downwind in 40-60 knots. It was wet and
cold when we started, but eventually the sun came out and it turned into an
awesome day, with 4-5m swells all around and lots of albatross visiting.
The cockpit was even a fairly pleasant place to be. Until the first wave of
the day came crashing over just as I was on my feet helping to set up for
a gybe. It knocked me over, and I think I took a winch in the ribs. Nothing
worse than I've had on the rugby pitch many times, but it was another good
reminder about keeping tethered in, even when the sailing has been
relatively civilised.
So, it has been some great, if demanding, sailing.
On the downside, our boat is not in good shape. The kludge on the main
means we can sail at third reef (which is OK for current conditions) or
full main (when/if the wind is low), but nothing in between. We've also
lost two Yankee halyards up the mast, and there's no real hope of getting
them back until Sydney, so we're very limited on headsails. And just a few
hours ago, we snapped the vang, though that should be repaired fairly
shortly. Lots of jargon there, but you get the picture. We're going to be
sailing conservatively for a while and likely losing ground. Even worse,
apparently all this was down to preventable errors. Let's see how we learn
from them.
By the way, I'm sending all these updated by email, so I'm not getting a
chance to see any comments or questions on the blog. But you are able to
post, and I'll catch up when I'm on shore. It will be great to hear from
you!
Also great would be to see some progress on my charitable fundraising
effort, which I have woefully underpromoted so far. I'm raising funds for
GiveDirectly, who help some of the world's poorest people by the simple
approach of giving them money and trusting them to know how best to use it.
It's a great concept, and there is good research supporting its
effectiveness. I THINK the page is at
www.youcaring.com/SailingForGiveDiretly. But if that doesn't work, there is
a link in the sidebar on the blog. I'll even be matching donations!
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