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Skara Brae - we hate Squalls!



1st update!

After a slow start due to no winds - we managed to get south of 20N hoping to find the trade winds the wind arrived as expected and we had a nice 15kts on our tail allowing us to goose-wing along at approx 8.7 kts but as per usual the best laid plans tend to mean nothing when sailing!

It seems it wasn't the trades we were in but a vigorous squall

As the squal increased so did the wind then the rain

when the wind passed 25 knts we put 1st reef in

when it reached 30kts we put the 2nd reef in 

when it reached 35kts we tried to put the 3rd reef in - but to no avail, the main sail would not go up or down.

While trying to remedy this situation the main sail managed to detach its self from the mast - being left held on by only the halyard and the 2nd reef! Seems the boom ropes and cars had became detached from the mast
so we Hove-to'd (stopped the boat with the sail still up), which is not easy in a Catamaran and reviewed the situation - seems someone would need to go up the mast - but not by the main Halyard which was attached to the top of the mast and stuck there.
So we used the Spinnaker uphaul sheet (the rope that raises the spinnaker) and sent young Scott up with repair lines.
We had practised this in Las Palmas Marina - but Scott had to do this in 35kt winds and 15feet waves - so he was bouncing around like a conker up there and because the Spinnaker Halyard is outside of the main struts, he had to climb around them, this he did with only the occasional swear word - when he got conked off the mast or metal stays.
Luckily we had taught Scott to climb Via Ferrates in Switzerland all them years ago.
We had actually bought a climbing harness for this very purpose as Boson chairs arent fit for this work especially if you have to climb the feckin mask! And we gave him a bicycle helmet to wear to protect his head!
Anyway he did great and managed to secure 3 out of the 4 main sail boom cars/ropes.
He finally dropped down battered and bruised but with congrats from everybody.
After cleaning up the carnage of broken cars and ropes including the lazy jacks that broke sometime during the squall!
And tying the loose main sail to the boom - we checked our Jury-rigged repairs and continued on our way.
albeit in a subdued manner - managing 6 kts in a broad reach.

So now we are hopefully at the edge of the squall as the winds have died down to 25kts.
and we are back sailing towards St Lucia.
We just received a sat weather report from the Arc confirming the Squall and the best route to take out of it (which we had already done).
So day 6 sailing and we have covered 850Nmiles with 2006 left.

We have used 1/2 our fuel (fighting the weather for the last 3 days and running the Genny as there was no sun for the solar panels to run all the electronics and fridge and freezer)- but have 130litres in reserve.
The smokers are on their last packet of cigs and the whisky is down to the last bottle so we are a slow but healthy boat!
There is not much hope of us keeping our position in the race which was around the 100th of 220 and 1/2 way in our dIvision.

Now we are happy just to keep our line and speed to St Lucia. Will update when when we have more news - i.e when we find the elusive Trade Winds.
cheers from
Skara Brae

ps: our young crew on board are in fine spirits and Sarah (Scotts girlfriend) is finally over the seasickness and constipation that she has had to deal with through the last week - she is a brave girl, who had never been sailing before we left on sunday!





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