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Free & BrEasy - Water, water and yet more water, everywhere



We are nearly at the half way mark on our 2350nm passage from the Cocos Islands to Mauritius, and it's been wet, very wet. The first few days lacked wind so the noisy motor was on night and day but what it lacked in wind, it made up for in rain. We experienced a monsoon's worth of rain in just two days. Every possible leak in hatches and cockpit cover was exposed as the stuff hammered down. Even the often turbulent seas were beaten flat into submission by the sheer force of it! Everything rapidly gets wet and it's impossible to dry out until the rain stopped and the sun came out which, of course, eventually happened.

Not that we are complaining you understand. Compared with most of the boats in the fleet we are particularly well sheltered from the elements. Free & Breasy has a deep large cockpit which has a coupe style hard top cover with all round vision through clear plastic panels that can be zipped up to allow cool air in. We can recline on comfortable seats to read, or eat dinner from a decent sized table. The helmsman sits on an "admiral's chair" with a great 360 degree view and can easily see all the instrument panels. Therefore there is no need to wear any water proofs. Compare this with most mono-hulls where the helmsman is exposed to the elements and water is constantly being brought down the companion way into the saloon by the crew.

So we have been listening to the drumming rain on the cockpit roof in the relatively dry conditions and certainly can't moan. Pedro (the ships Polar Bear mascot) likes to sit above the door into the saloon to keep an eye on what's going on. He says that he is completely water proof but never the less looks a lot happier when the sun shines. I heard him mutter something about "a chinese laundry" yesterday maybe because we have towels and sheets drying on lines at the back of the cockpit.

We estimate that the passage will take 15 days or so. We are already getting nervous about running out of biscuits and chocolate. The Indian Ocean is well known for its disturbed wave patterns and this has been playing havoc with our automatic steering system which keeps switching off. Yes, that old problem again! The night watches are particularly tiresome when the autopilot disengages every few minutes. As a direct consequence there has been a sharp increase in the consumption of biscuits and chocolate during the night. The off watch crew frequently wake up to the sounds of very large mice scrabbling away at the packaging.

Although we left a day earlier than most of the rest of fleet, we are now gradually being overtaken by the leaders of the World ARC pack. This again we are blaming on our autopilot as we have found that reefing the mainsail helps the autopilot behave itself in gusty conditions but also reduces our speed. Still we are not in a rush to get anywhere and can enjoy the honour and privilege of taking part in the World ARC Rally while watching all that water, everywhere!



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