The night was clear, with the moon low in the sky. Our watch was pretty uneventful for the first 3 hours until we spotted another yacht on a similar trajectory - challenge accepted. Jamie went to work with a wee tweak here and a wee tweak there, here a tweak, there a tweak, everywhere a tweak tweak. Mingha was in our grasp. She was passed with ease; humiliated as she sulked across the horizon behind us. Job done, off to bed, leaving Colin and Callum freedom to discuss variances in engineering education in Glasgow universities and Desert Island Disks highlights among other fascinating subjects.
Alan reappeared early like the prowling “school prefect” to ensure duties were being conducted as per job description. Thankfully progress had been maintained as expected/demanded and the inspection received a satisfactory rating.
Similar progress was maintained throughout the day, resulting in a reasonable 24 hour distance.
24 hour progress – 149 nm – cumulative 666 nm
The rest of the day was on a reach, tilted to the left, slipping off the seats during nap time. Brief excitement occurred when another pretender challenged our speed on the water. It warranted a change to the Code zero sail, and they were soon left for dust, or maybe spray?
Only other incident of note was the demand by Alan to use up the bananas before they decomposed and split. So Callum was tasked with making banana bread, without all ingredients. The experiment was interesting and the result…
…but was usurped at dusk by our first major drama! Colin spotted a squall on the horizon, heading our way. We decided it was prudent to put away the Code Zero in anticipation of stronger winds. The sail was furled away. But unravelled at the top. Attempts to roll out the sail again resulting in further twist of the sail to the point where we getting in a bit of a pickle. It was decided to lower the sail to the deck to unravel the sail, but the sail became entangle in the spreaders on the mast – oops! Not exactly the slick operation we were anticipating. It was completely dark by now, with sails flapping everywhere and all hands working to get things under control. Eventually, we managed to free the sail and lower it to the deck and through a hatch. Unfortunately, this wee debacle gave rise to a couple of tears in the sail which will require repair before re-use. A few lessons learned to add to the database!
After a bit more faffing about, the jib was deployed and we were back under sail, making steady progress in lightish winds. Jamie rescued supper – a tuna pasta salad (chickpeas for him); for those who could eat after our ordeal. And…the banana bread was sweet, delicious and high calorific value to replenish our morale. Good job Evetts!
Thankfully, our evening shifts were uneventful, despite the AIS having developed a fault (maybe Code Zero Incident One [C0I1] related).
Clive the cabin boy standing by...