It has been a miserable two days with constant rain, sometimes torrential and winds never less than 25 kts and up to 38 in some squalls. Bob has just shouted down that he has seen another ship - it is a large wooden construction with two giraffes, elephants and a lot of other animals on it.
Thee crew are managing superbly well to keep spirits up in spite of this most unseasonal weather for an ARC crossing.
I am so proud of the way my beautiful, talented and brave daughter Lily is dealing with all this. She stands her watch without a murmur and always has a winning smile, even at the toughest moments. Last night we were on watch together and appeared to be sailing into a massive electrical storm. We furled away the genoa and waited for it to hit us but it seemed to pass ahead of us then parked, giving us a spectacular light show, but we were both a little uneasy about pressing on.
However there was no way around it and the night got blacker and blacker. Bob put his head up and said it was blacker than a witches tit, before dropping down to put his oilskins on. So that became the ear worm - how black exactly is a witches tit, and can there be anything blacker. The night was certainly as black as any I recall and at that point the wind came up to 38+Kts and the rain lashed down. Lily was great, smiling away and being very brave, getting on and helping me to deal with the situation. We bore away and she eased the genoa sheet and was able to furl the genoa away as the pressure came off. No panic, no dramas and always smiling. after 10 minutes or so things abated and Bob took over on watch and we went below.
Rob continues to be a very stalwart and solid member of the crew and is always ready to lend a hand whether it is his watch or not. I have no doubt he will make a great yacht skipper or navigator in the future.
Bob's call on the navigation has been spot on. He does tell fibs about the weather though. He remains jolly and buoyant and has great depths of experience.
Kevin has extended his yachting experience beyond measure and is coping extremely well, way outside of his normal comfort zone. He is a good friend and I feel guilty for dragging him into this trip which has not been quite the champagne sailing we had all anticipated and hoped for.
All 5 of us are committed to working our way through this experience and we live in hope that it will be a brighter day tomorrow.
None of us had much sleep last night due to the uncomfortable waves and the fact that we are now on port so for me, heeling away from my bunk and I am lyng in the lee cloth.
Since starting this blog we have had another massive squall, this time up to 48 Kts. We were a bit slow to react, coming as it inevitably did as we were finishing supper, just before dark, but as soon as we got the genoa furled away we were able to ride it out with ease again, running down to a wind angle of 160degrees as the wind lashed the tops off the waves and the five of us up on deck trying to decide whether it would be better to get the main down completely. As it was we already had 2 reefs in and Bob was able to handle things OK so we had a bit of a wild ride for 20 minutes or so before it abated. It is rather convenient that there are no sandbanks or obstructions to run into out here, and although everything seems larger and more dramatic, it is much easier to run before a squall here than worrying whether you are going to have enough sea room before having to turn and face the storm! We hope this is the end of the poor weather. Our latest grib shows calmer winds of 10-15kts tomorrow from the east so we hope that is the end of these roller coaster days. I can't say any of us will be sorry to have a couple of quiet days. The prospect of falling into a wind hole is quite attractive at the moment.
The most vexing problem we have had today, apart from the weather is an alternator failure. I have spent most of the day trying to diagnose it and solve the problem. I do carry a spare alternator, but it requires slightly different wiring and it was too much of a challenge to fix in the bumpy ride we had today with winds up to 35 Kts most of the day and we were being thrown around in the cabin a fair bit. Hopefully we can deal with this tomorrow.
If not this may be the last blog In shall be posting for a while as I wont be able to recharge the computer.
We have plenty of water but wont be able to make any more and will have to manage without our wind instruments. We have back up battery GPS to navigate and paper charts etc, but it will be a bit boring not being able to blog or use ipads and ipods etc. I had a brief chat with my super techy friend James Young by satphone today and we have managed a potential work around fix to get us to better weather, but I feel confident we should be able to solve the problem.
I had installed a new alternator, charge splitter and voltage regulator before Selene left for the Canaries. James supervised me doing it myself, just in case of such an eventuality. Lets hope we can solve it so that I can continue this record of the adventure. If not I shall have to resort to pencil and paper and you will have to follow us on tracker until I can post more.
We are very nearly half way, so bring on the sunshine, the calm seas and some nice trade wind sailing - please!