can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Starblazer - 30/09/2014 – A tale of 2 days



Sunday was horrible, wet all day with no regular wind pattern so we motored.
The sun briefly glowed among the clouds just above the western horizon,
putting in an apology for an appearance better late than never. At least it
suggested the weather was clearing! It finally stopped raining at about
1900. The sprayhood and the bimini, which I’d waterproofed in St Lucia,
decided to go into sieve mode (as in the similie ‘leaking like a sieve’) so
the cockpit and occupants were soaked. The rain hadn’t quite finished with
us as I ran through a short but very heavy shower shortly before midnight.
John had spotted it on radar, a cell about 12 miles wide and 3 miles deep.
Avoiding it was not an option. Later on during the night John managed to
dodge a second one, which was smaller.

The other downside of the day concerned the mainsail, the clew pulled out so
we dropped in the first reef to tension the sail. For those of you who have
no idea what I am talking about, here is a brief explanation. Think of the
mainsail as a right angled triangle, with the long edge running up the mast
with the ‘head’ at the top and the ‘tack’ at the bottom where the boom joins
the mast in a right angle. The foot of the sail (opposite end from the
head, obviously) runs along parallel with the boom and is pulled tight to
the end using a line called an outhaul, because it hauls the end out. This
line is fixed to a metal loop attached at the third corner of the sail,
called the clew. The stitching holding the tape, which is how the loop is
attached to the sail, failed meaning the sail could flap about only
restrained by the reefing lines which held most of it in place. By pulling
in the first reef the sail is shortened by hooking a ring onto a horn at the
mast end of the foot then tightening the reefing line which pulls another
ring in the sail, called a cringle, downward and out towards on the boom.
The sail is now still the same triangular shape just that all three sides
are now shorter.

Highlights of Sunday were porridge for breakfast, bacon sandwich when John
got up at about noon, open pate sandwiches for lunch, mustard and lemon
chicken followed by yogurt and apple for dinner. The food stocks are
subsiding!

Monday started so much better, for one thing the cockpit seats dried, the
cushions dried out and the sun rose. I know it rises every day but today I
saw it. We had been making good progress towards out waypoint west of Lifou
yesterday so the skipper had decided to slow the boat a bit because we didn’t
want to arrive at the entry to the lagoon in the dark. This was a wrong
decision. Isn’t hindsight marvellous? This morning the wind piped up to a
solid force 5 coming straight from our second waypoint. Beating into a
strong wind with an adverse current is not something for the faint hearted.
Experience tells us you don’t make much forward progress in the Solent or
across the top of the Cotentin Peninsular to Cherburg! The current was far
weaker but we motored close to the wind with the sail giving us a bit of
help. The wind helped to push us sideways, known as leeway, so the best we
could do was to aim at the shore of New Caledonia and put a tack in later.
Speeds varied between 3 knots and 5 knots depending on current, sea state
and windspeed; bizarrely, the stronger the wind the slower the speed! Late
afternoon the seas really kicked up making for an unpleasant few hours. We
put the tack in when I came on watch at 2300, the seas are flatter and the
wind is down so we are now making good progress.

Today’s efforts to devour the food mountain: porridge with the last apple
chopped and sprinkled with cinnamon and Demerara sugar, giant sausage in a
wrap for lunch, fillet steak with the last potato and sweet potato mashed
together and a tin of French beans. Very tasty.

Joyce



Previous | Next