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Arkouda - I can see for miles and miles--can you see me?



11:12 UMT, 13 11.6 N, 41 30.6 W SOG 7.8 kts, COG 289 T

I wanted to post this last night, in the wee hours of my night shift when the boat is quiet and world at at peace, but last night we saw another boat, headed the same direction. Sean had not spotted her until he had gone inside to wake me and looked at the radar. She was six miles off our starboard beam, (right side) and not a dot big enough to track with the radar. No lights either, think I will try to wake up! Is it really a boat?

By the time I had coffee, and and tucked Sean into bed we picked up her on AIS, yep, 5-6 six miles off our beam. Another ARC boat, an American (there are pathetically few of us in this event) boat named Aspen, Marie and Steve from Golden, Colorado. How exciting, my favorite double handlers, finishing their circumnavigation upon arrival in St. Lucia. What are the odds? There are only about 8 boats with only 2 people on board, and only about 6 American boats, and we are so close to them...

Only I still can't see them. I can see the horizon clearly as the moon reaches towards it splendor, the stars are clearly visible, a couple of nights ago in hazier conditions I was able to watch a freighter well beyond 24 miles. Are the waves too tall? Are they having electrical issues, and can't run their lights? I try and try and can't raise them on VHF.

I am reassured when I see her steady course on AIS, going 6 kts, now 7 kts, and adjusting course for the wind shift. Maybe they had to adjust their course a lot as we passed them, since Sean did not see them. I hope they were not both up cursing under their breath as we approached. We were steering as close to downwind as our genoa would allow, and somehow she was able to steer more downwind. I had to sit and change course to keep our paths from crossing.

We light Arkouda up like a Christmas tree at night. We have two separate sets of navigation lights, one set on the mast head, and another at the corners of the boat. Since we have replaced all of our bulbs with LED we light them both up--I really want to be seen--probably not necessary but it beats being run down!

We are down to just our genoa (small forward sail) now, and we may have furl a little of it in a day or so. We thought about raising the main, but rock-papered-sissored who got to climb part way up the mast to retrieve the halyard (where we store it to keep it from clanking) and climbing on the coach roof top, reaching 4 feet out to the end of boom to grab the line to unzip the sail bag 16 feet in the air with 20 foot waves, we decided using the one sail is good enough. Hmmm---a few days ago I was glad that Fred (the bird) did not have access to inside of the sail bag. Now it seems as though washing it in port is a much better alternative. Anyways, we decided that 7.5 kts is plenty fast!

Yesterday as the wind and waves increased a bit we begin to move REALLY fast with our parasailor. I know the rep said take it down at 25 knots of wind, but after seeing a few surfs down waves at 18 kts (boat speed) in 20 kts of wind, we decided it was a good time to bring it down for a little bit and do our daily chafe check. We had been starting to get some at the top of the halyard, and wanted to make sure our duck tape was holding up.

We were feeling pretty smug about this. It has been a few days since we had wild flapping sails hanging off the side of boat, but there is nothing so humbling as sailing. Sean went forward to grab the retrieval line for the "sock" (which you slide down the sail to tame it) after de powering it a bit at the mast. I had already adjusted our course to 140 degrees off the wind, released the windward sheet so that the edge of sail was lined up with middle of boat, and begin releasing the leeward "sheet" (just a weird sailor name for another line) which usually causes the windward side of sail to start folding in on itself. When it does this, Sean heaves the line down to the "wing" or opening in the sail, to wait for it to deflate a bit.

It was not really deflating. He managed to get the sock to the opening, but it was a balloon from there, and the boat was still moving at 10 kts. At least we have learned to pull down, and then tie off, pull down, tie off, unlike some of our early attempts as Sean would pull on Brady's feet as he sailed overhead but refused to let go of the sail. That was never in the middle of North Atlantic Ocean, with its huge waves either, and never at 20 knots of wind! He tied it up, adjusted his harness clips and came back. There was no way I could hear him over the wind. Release more of port sheet he tells me. I wait for him to get back in position, safely clipped onto the baby stay (a very thick wire that helps hold the mast up, a miniature tram cable wire, about 14 mm wide) and released more. The sail shot up even higher, and was now floating way out over the Atlantic. He signaled for more. Now that darn sail is really high, and 15 - 20 feet to the left side of the boat. Before, the waves were tall enough to shadow the sail at least a little bit, giving us some hope. I motioned that I was going to turn the boat even more to help de power it. I looked at Sean sitting on the trampoline, clutching the retrieval line with both hands and waves splashing both up over and from under the the trampoline netting. The lines were now really loose and falling in the water, only to be whipped up through the air. I was hanging on to both of them trying to keep them from fouling the prop, and keep from getting beat up by them. I motioned him back to me.

I watched him clip his second line on the jackline (lines that run along the boat so you can clip in, that way if you fall in the water you drown faster because you are pulled with force required to get a waterskier up!) and walk carefully forward. "What?" he asks "I'm not sure we are going to get it down". "What if we unfurl the genoa in behind it and see if that will blanket the sail?" I ask. We scrambled with the lines, 3 now that all want to be on two winches. I braced myself and hung onto the guy, while Sean managed the unfurling line and Jib sheet. It was like magic. Sean went forward,but now I could not see him because he was positioned like a sail sandwich in between the sails. After a few minutes of "Oh S---" what have i done now, the spinnaker was back in the sock, and Sean said it just fell into it and required hardly any pressure to get it down. All done, he came and told me how smart I was. Please don't tell him I had just read it in the instructions given to us by the rep! Let him him falsely believe that there is hope.

That pretty red sail spent the night in its bag, lashed down to trampoline. I think that it will stay there unless the wind drops back down to 10 kts! The only casualty of this episode was the furling winch, which I guess we put too much pressure on. Sean tried to take it apart, got a bigger hammer, now it turns but squeaks. When he wakes up from his nap this morning I am sure he will take it apart and grease it.

Right after all of this happened I went in to download our emails off the sat phone. Sitting there for hours in my mailbox was a reminder from our friend Ed to keep the dive knife handy to tame that sail. Thanks Ed, we always have one handy, but next time won't forget to use it!

Finally spotted dolphins yesterday, about 10 of them. They were a little shy, and only 3 swam under the bow once they saw me. One was huge, light grey with black spots, the other two hung out together and reminded me of my mother in law's dogs. I know it is silly to be superstitious, but I feel better about the journey now that I have seen them dancing in our bow wave.

Believe it or not, we are doing well.
Cynthia




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