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Hot Stuff - Hotstuff blog DAY 5



Hectic Nights - take two!
 
The last 24 hours have been the busiest of the journey so far. One thing we have discovered is that this is NOT a holiday. Sarah's oil to make her eye lashes grow will have to stay in the bag for another day. It's funny - when we imagined the Atlantic Crossing we forgot the continuous maintenance that would be required (and we are talking about the boat - not our nails!).
Flashing back to the scene yesterday afternoon:
The pole was laying down the companionway into the saloon and resting on Karen's head whilst we were performing surgery to try and recover the trip line. The kettle was on the boil to see if we could dissolve some of the salt encrusted on the machinery, together with the old fav' WD40. Thalitta was rummaging in the first aid kits to find the largest pair of tweezers nine women own. 13 pairs were put forward first but none lived up to the challenge which was to try and tweeze the trip line rope out of the inside of the pole. Nine brains worked hard and we really pulled together as a team. Hacksaws, screwdrivers, pliers - or as Ashley calls them - 'suppliers' and half and hour later the solution was found with Alice directing the rope down the pole and Nikki on her back tempting it out the minute hole it is meant to run through. Meanwhile, Sarah was keeping the area safe from flying potatoes and Ulli was helming our trusty steed at 7 knots in the right direction!
Two very frustrated Skippers tore their hair out last night listening to the flappy flogging mainsail during our windless night and demanded an emergency drop of the main in the early hours. Alice then put her seamstress skills to the test (basically tying loads of knots) sewing two new sliders back onto the sail which we discovered had snapped when it was on the decks. A cheeky little Guy rope decided that during the commotion he would slide his way overboard and wrap his way around the prop a few times without anyone noticing. He was caught out though as he glowed green in the phosphorescence streaming at the back of the boat when we started sailing again. So more excitement at daybreak with Nikki taking a heroic dive to recover the rope. She fought her way through hammerhead sharks and managed to release the Guy from the Prop and bring him safely back on board. No damage to the underside of the boat and we have a working propeller again - unfortunately totally useless in the racing class - until we actually reach St. Lucia!
As if that wasn't enough we also started fishing today and we hoisted the Spinnaker for the first time. We are trying to pick up speed and gain as much ground as we can to the West to avoid the lightening winds behind us.
Most talked about member of the team today is Ashley after waking everyone up for watch an hour early. N.B. Wristwatch needed on the packing list!!
There is nothing better to improve morale after a hard night like we just had than bacon sandwiches and bucket salt water showers. We are a happy crew and a happy boat.


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