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Skara Brae - Skara Brae Blog Day 18



Another intersting 24 hours

After repairing the Gennaker finally and putting her away - we were sailing along nicely at 9-10kts with the spinnaker out, this we kept this up for 1/2 the day.

But of course nothing ever stays the same when you are sailing along nicely - the wind had been gusting to 25kts then going back down to 18kts all day, but then it went to 25kts and kept climbing, I rallied the crew (who were all sleeping at 4pm in the afternoon! (nightwatches wipe everybody out)).

By the time they had got up and had put their safety gear on the boat was surfing at 16kts! with wind blowing at 30 - 32kts.

So we put into action our "get the Feckin Spinnaker down fast" plan, which we had actually practiced lots of times over the last days - and it worked, we had it down in 10mins! Which was just in time as by now the winds and the waves were double what they had been 1/2 hr before.The winds and the waves stayed high the rest of the day and all night and we get lots of rain and squalls.

Today its much the same, strong winds big seas and occasional squall - and we are still belting along at 8kts with the 3 reefs in the main and 2 in the Gennaker. So we still expect to get to St Lucia late sunday

Interestingly for someone who doesnt like fishing - I managed to catch one last night! - it was 5am watch and i was lying behind the starboard bimini - trying to stay out of the rain, when something hit me in the face and landed on my chest - WTF it was flapping about like a bird, I threw it away and it landed on the deck - it was another one of those kamikazie MFK flying fish - we have had about 20 land on the boat in the last week. Anyway it was still alive and too small for the pot, so I threw it back in.

When my shift was over - I went to clean up before hitting the sack, it was then i realized I was covered in blood - maybe the wee FF had got its wish after all and had completed its mission or died trying!

Anyway we dont have enough water to shower, so I've did my best to clean the blood off my arms and neck with wetwipes - but i can still smell the bugger and probably will for a few days:-(


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