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

Menu

Sanya - 20161126 Sanya



2016-11-26 14.30 UTC Boat time

TEAM SANYA VO70

We are running around 14 knots of boat speed on the A3 with lots of sun and lots of small showers, so it is jackets on, jackets off, jackets on, jackets off. After the night of the 24th, our captain and naviguessor sorted out the clocks and we had a relative good night with some good averages while the wind slowly went down. The next day was all about drying out the boat, the people and organizing all the stuff again as the wind was going down from the last four days between 25 to 30 knots to around 15 knots. Just as all settled again in the second half of the day, while running real nice boat speeds with the masthead, the J4 and the full main, the J4 decided to get down on its own. This was the first real "ALL HANDS ON DECK". So my watch scrambled to get into our foulies and get onto the deck. We managed to pull back the J4 on deck and assess the damage. Fortunately the J4 and the halyard were still ok, but the top of the J4 hit the Masthead sail while coming down and made a big gaping hole right in the middle. So we changed back to the Fractional, ran the J4 up again and had a slightly worse angle towards Saint Lucia. We would like to repair the masthead sail, but how the **** do you repair a 500 square meter sail on a moving VO70? This is a challenge we haven't yet tackled. The night was falling in and yet again this was the moment the clocks decided to stop again while the wind picked up a bit. I was driving in the 'Great Big Dark'. We were running real nice speeds with 22knots but with only the compass to use, no stars, gusty winds and no sight at all, we decided to power down and roll in the fractional. This was the good decision, as it became 't apparent that it could even get darker. You almost couldn't see the point of the boat, while the rain is hitting your face and it was real pitch dark all around. Driving the boat without the instruments became a 2 man job, where 1 was looking up at the windex calling the height, while I was driving on gut feeling of the pressure, the heel and the way the waves hit the boat. This lead to some intense hours of driving to keep Sanya running on a good average boat speed and a straight line. When finally some stars started to show themselves it got quite a bit easier, but we decided to keep her a little powered down just for safety as on a regular bases we were still hitting some showers where the sight deteriorated quickly. With the next watch change we got a big scare as the DSC alarm went off with a Man Overboard at 2.8 miles. We quickly counted our own, everybody on board. The captain jumped down to check further, the crew started checking to get the sails furled in and the motor running, because so nearby, you have to do something. Happily in 5 minutes it was clear that one of our own had his PLB tripped on the foredeck while helping sorting out the sails there. Well, the PLB worked, but we had a bit of a scare there and were just in time to prevent a massive call to the marine community. Never a dull moment on board! The next watch struggled while the wind was getting down further with changing sails, ending in the A3, which we have been running all day now. All seems back up again due to the hard work of some of the crew, we have got clocks again for the moment and we are hoping they will keep for the night. But even though we powered down last night, the position report showed that we actually gained on Trifork, the other VO70, which really lifted the spirits all around. So today is relative quiet and we are running nicely towards Saint Lucia. The wind is a bit slow but this gives some room for a breather and to get fit for the next bit of the journey. The routing shows some interesting options to the north, but this seems quite extreme. The navigator has his work cut out for him. Light winds up ahead so the challenge will be to keep in as much winds as possible. 

OBR a.i. Mariette Koekoek

Previous | Next