Life with no wind.
Day 11.
It's fair to say we have had an unconventional 11 days of sailing on the
Atlantic Ocean. Last week five days of constant and persistent rain with gales
hitting us from all wind angles. Then over the last few days very little wind,
consistency or direction has been our issue. Not deterred, we have had the kite
up for 48 hours now (only took us 10 days!), with lightweight sheets and guys,
and have been practicing the art of sailing close hauled with a symmetric
spinnaker now turned code 0. Not exactly the norm - but with a little bit
of coaxing we have actually managed to maintain movement above 0.00 knots under
the pink glow of the sail. There have been a few hiccups with our upwind kite
work - namely a tense moment this afternoon where a frilly thong was caught in
the kite sheet block. Undergarment rescue team took positions, and after 10
tense minutes the knickers were rescued intact (skills!), spinnaker sheet also
was still intact. Luckily no one was wearing them at the time. This brings a
whole new level to the expression "safety briefs".
Unlike the wind strength - spirits still remain high. We have learnt the
very valuable skill of how to keep ourselves entertained on our 12X4X2 meter
world. We have been reading up on the latest glamour tips in Grazia magazine -
great choice of present thanks Jo! - Inspired by our new found knowledge we are
contemplating a version for yachties. Every girl should know how to wear bilge
grime under her nails with style, how to spot the latest 'fake bruise' tattoo
and which bikini shape is most flattering with Dubarry boots.
Today has also been a day of maintenance. Skipper baby monkey climbed up
the mast for a rig check and reported all seemed normal, apart from a sheared
screw on the pole track which we quickly replaced. We have also squeezed in
servicing a few misbehaving winches, topping up our tans, showering (bucket) and
laundry.
Food is always a good morale boost on-board. With this in mind Sue set to
preparing a yummy fast food dinner, sausage, mash and beans YUM. 2 hours later
with potatoes as hard as our muscles are becoming mash soon turned into bread
and gas efforts (see 2 days ago) were aborted. As delicious as dinner was we are
all very grateful for the magic hand of Nikki for fixing the gas stove. Tonight
Hot Stuff will be enjoying Hot dinners once more! Amazing how mundane things
back home become novelties out here...
On a mission, our fearless skipper went forth from up high at the top of
the mast down into the dark depths of our pongy (understatement of the century)
fridge, . Our hero!!
With a galley that is finally passable by Aggi and Kim, and a yacht that is
ship shape top to bottom we look forward to the night ahead, where our biggest
decision on watch is which of the 10 flavours of cup a soup (does that many
really exist?!) to have. Living life on the edge - just another regular day in
our world :)
With love and fairy dust from the Girls4Sail crew on
Hotstuff.