"A gust becomes a squall if it lasts longer than a minute and involves a windspeed at least 16 knots higher than the mean, and exceeds 22 knots. It is obviously a significant event and potentially dangerous." A squall becomes a storm if it lasts for 4 hours, reaches wind speeds from all directions gusting 35 knots and pours torrential rain at regular intervals. - If in addition it frightens the bejaysus out of the crew, it is technically called a "hooley". We had one a few days after our last blog. The sky darkened all around, the horizon closed in and then disappeared.. Close - to visibility fell to tens of metres, the sails began to flap wildly and water fell in egg size droplets all around. Fortunately we shortened sail even further after the first impact, running eventually with a very small main. The boom and then the jenny had gone in as the squall approached.Our only sensible choice was to double up the watch and run with the wind, whatever direction it took, except when it backed , which it never did for long enough for us to make a decision. At times were were 30 to 40 degrees of course and heading for the Amazon. Somehow the right pages of "Heavy Weather Sailing", last year's skimmed christmas present never came to mind.
Perhaps we should have taken a lead from Lotus, a 43 foot OVNI whom we spoke to the following day. They experienced 190 degree windshifts and sensibly took down their sails and ran with the motor. They gave us the impression that it had all been rather jolly.Perhaps we should ask for a copy of " Sailing for Wimps" for this Christmas.
In the midst of this turmoil when the Great Liberator's progeny and the Skipper were in the cockpit, we heard and then smelt the fishey breath of a venting whale and there right alongside us again was a pilot whale on the starboard side.. Our first concern was that it was about to consummate an unnatural relationship with our rudder, particularly when it dived from starboard to port. Our second was that Jonah was about to appear to invite us to pass to the other side. Or " cross the bar" as an old friend describes it. In the event, it was neither and after a tense night, a pretty dawn appeared. If you want an aural impression of our experience, listen to the Gale sequence from the Brendan Voyage by Shaun Davey.
The night was not entirely over. The Navigator, also known as the Irish Sage, sleeps like Brian Boru in the solitary splendour of the aft cabin. No sooner had he laid his wise head on the pillow, then he was up complaining to the Skipper that somebody had left the sauna and jacuzzi on in the aft section. Now Moodys are fine boats but neither sauna nor jacuzzi come as standard items. It was the case however that steam was emitting from under the wise one's bunk and that the walls of the cabin were unusually hot. On investigation, we discovered that steam and water were escaping from a plastic U bend on top of the water heater, filling the entire space with hot moist air and then condensing water over the batteries ( which were fortunately covered or they would have shorted). We had to extract water from around their base. We cleaned up, switched off the relevant systems and decided to solve the problem after a few hours sleep. We finally managed to do this thanks to Araldite which enabled us to put a skin over the damaged part - we are available for testimonials.
Sleep was in short supply for a few days but we are a delighted to say that noone has become grumpy. We did reach something of a low however at 750 ....miles to go when the water tank appeared to develop a major leak. The water maker was working well but the contents of the tank kept appearing in the bilges. We stripped out the sole of the boat in the saloon and the woodwork around the tanks but found no explanation.The problem may lie back in the engine compartment , the next area of search. In the meantime, we have plenty of drinking water and we are filling containers directly from the watermaker for cooking and washing. Although that morning, one of the crew decided to prance in the buff on the stern deck, as he explained, so as to wash himself in the rain ( which was somewhere on the horizon at the time - exhibitionist,or what?).
We have now refilled the tank and it appears to be holding, so a mystery remains over what happened. Alchemy had one final surprise however to mark 500 miles; the starter battery which powers up engine or generator burned itself out. No start power at all. This may have beeen connected to the jacuzzi incident. This was potentially awkard as without power generation, all our systems, including communications and autohelm would rapidly close down. So before doing anything, we sent a warning shot to the ARC organisers and received confirmation of its receipt. We can navigate to Rodney Bay with a handheld GPS but getting in without motor could be difficult. Anyway, instead of jumping the domestic to the starter battery, we exchanged the thruster battery in the bows with the starter and she fired away.Problem solved and everyone played a part. Panic over.
A crispy bowl of Swiss Muesli and yoghourt is a great start to the day and good preparation for a morning of yodelling, although the lederhosen get a bit warm come midday. We save the more serious singing for the second half of the day, when under the guidance of our resident lumberjack, who is descended from courier du bois stock out of Scotland, we get to grips with Inuit lovesongs and Nelson Eddy's best hits. The guitar riffs from
Bristol's answer to Duane Eddie can be relied upon to get the feet tapping. And if all else fails, the Sage is ready with " The Star of the County Down".
It looks as if our singing days may be drawing to a close as we hope to reach St Lucia on Saturday. A big hit is in the making however with a composition called "Alchemy" sung to the tune of the tango " Destiny", more Carlos Gardel than Hammerstein.
The Alchemy Crew