13.00 yesterday marked the end of our first week at sea and we have covered 1000 nautical miles. Where’s the champagne?
The frustrations of light winds are well behind us as we get use to little Misty cavorting on a big lumpy sea. Easy jobs become that much more difficult when the ground underneath you is in constant 3D motion. I’m nursing a small cut finger, self inflicted (no need to call the safeguarding officer) while attempting to make lunch. Fiz the Wiz will be simplifying the food preparation as it can be quite dangerously down there, we can smell the curry as it’s been marinading for 2 days.
We also changed our gas cylinder after only 1 week, this indicates higher consumption that planned so are checking the system for leaks. We also didn’t like the look of our single line No. 2 reef in the main. To tighten up its position on the boom we had to adjust the reef line anchor point. It’s the No. 3 reef for us tonight though, which uses the old double line tack and clew system. Using a technique learned from Grand Master Cunliffe we reefed the sail from the cockpit while running dead down wind. No one want to luff up in these seas. As our No1 reef is never used we decided to remove it in the future and change the No. 2 from single line to double line.
We shook out the 3rd reef at dawn and went back to a full poled out genoa. There is still around 20 knots of wind but it had dropped a little. We are doing around 7.5 knots.
The Fizz Wizz chicken vindaloo was made from her own selected spices and served with rice and pickle. Just the job.
We have to run the engine today to charge the service batteries. The autohelm takes a lot of power but it does an awful lot of work. The good news is that means the hot water is back.
Alan
Picture Alistair tightening topping lift.
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