Daily Run 243nmDTT 207nm
Lunch Avocado & Prawn Pasta
Dinner Spaghetti Bologniese with fresh Parmasan
So the large seas and strong winds continue, with the odd respite in the conditions allowing a few hours of relative relaxation. It is fair to say that I keep telling the crew that these conditions are much rougher than normal and 'normally' there is a nice rolling Atlantic swell making the steering and living aboard very comfortable. Needless to say, I am getting a gentle ribbing from the crew about the conditions continuing to be heavy and they are starting to think that this is 'normal'. I use the word 'normal' cautiously as there isn't really such a thing at sea - you get what you get! So the good news about the conditions is that we are making amazing progress towards St Lucia abd breaking records constantly. The next to go was the speed record once again with Tim on the helm when we hit 21.1knots. Having experienced the conditions in the last 3 days I now know the boat has more speed left in it - I am not sure that we do though. Driving in these conditions is very tough and requires immense concentration and Tim and I are both very tired as we have been helming nearly all of the night hours. We reefed the main again and reduced double poled out headsails by about 1/4 which steadied the boat down, making driving much easier - again a relative term! The more experienced helmsman among the crew have started rotating into the driving too now which is meaning that Tim and I are getting a bit more rest which is very welcome. Lucy left me with various office tasks for the passage in her own efficient manner, but as yet with the helming, cooking and running the boat there has been no time for this - later I hope. Several members of the crew were keen to do some fishing on the trip and even bought line and lures ready for the opportunity, but at these speeds there is no point. The only fish that could swim fast enough to catch our trailing lure would be Black Marlin sized or have very sharp teeth, neither of which I would want to be towing behind the boat. For me so far, possibly the funniest moment of the trip was on the first night when the sea was at it's biggest, 4-5m with 30-35knots of wind. Matt who is watch lead on my watch (and bought the fishing gear) was looking back at the waves coming in and I noticed this surreal look on his face - like he was watching 'The Perfect Storm' when the big wave hit the trawlers. "Don't look behind you, **** fishing on this trip" he said. Of course, the crew are now doing very well, settling in and learning to live in the challenging conditions. Talking of crew, today I will start the crew profile with Adolfo Hernandez. Adolfo is fresh in my mind as he arrived on the boat with a pretty spectacular black eye and 4 stiches. Of course we all joked that his wife was unhappy with him coming on the trip, but the truth was a much less interesting faulty pedastal bin which shot the lid off when he stepped on the pedal, resulting in the stitches. So back to why Adolfo is fresh in my mind, yesterday morning he approached me at the chart table with a sterile scalpel and said can you remove my stitches! Brilliant, I thought. Yes i've been trained to do this, but never on a real person and last time in a classroom, which wasn't sailing along a bumpy sea at 10 knots..... I opted for some surgical scissors as the thought of holding a scaple to his eye in these conditions was too terrifying for me. It took about 10 minutes after which we had succesful stitch removal, sterilisation and steri strip. I am pleased to say that Adolfo says the eye is feeling much better and by the time he goes home there will be no signs left. Adolfo explains himself as a typical Mediterranean sailor, used to sailing his own Jenneau 37 from marina to marina in the Med. In reality he is pretty experienced and is loving the Trade winds and surfing conditions having last night achieved the all time guest speed record of 20.1knots - the second record of the day. Adolfo works in Telecomms and is based in Paris but lives in Grenada so is used to travellling. Having installed a new email system before the ARC which stopped working properly 2 days in, I was happy that Adolfo took up the challenge of speaking to Tech support over the Satphone and quickly resolved the issue. So at first light this morning, we gybed onto Port and are now steering a course of about 240, taking us back towards the Rhumb line - we were 50nm North of it when we gybed. The plan is to stay on this gybe for 4-5 days and head South, expecting the wind to head us in 2-3 days and point directly at St Lucia again. Apparently we are 1st in our division currently so we must be doing something right. The last record broken was a whopping 243nm run with 207nm towards target. Whilst the conditions remain fast and exciting, I think we would all welcome some calmer seas to make helming and living aboard easier, however, I assure you that having spent 7 days at the beginning of the 2010 ARC making only 100-130nm per day, this is just fine!! Christian, Tim and crew