‘A wild, fast night'
So what a fabulous wild night……Yesterday we made the most of our wind in the daytime and powered across the ocean and achieved 182nm in 24 hours. We knew ‘early doors’ as yesterday dawned that we were going to have to make the most of the forecasted 18-23 knots in the absence of any asymmetric or light wind sails. The only way to get any ‘umph’ and much longed for speed and to pile on miles was to put out our two head sails and totally ‘GO" for it. So that is what we did totally, absolutely, dedicatedly…..and that took us through the night. Our 23knots then became 28 knots wind speed….
A sailing lifetime personal helming speed was recorded for Freyja at 17 knots SOG, At the time I was in the saloon making my brekkie when my cereal bowl flew across the floor, I looked out and saw a wall of water barreling down…..and the record was recorded, hearts pumping a little faster. I had had 15.9 knots previously but fessing up I only had my hands lightly on the wheel and the good old auto helm was actually doing the donkey work (so doesn’t really count). The moment was marked by Freyja and I ‘Whooping’ with delight and right on cue a massive, beautiful, bright meteor streaked across the northern sky….this is the honest truth.
…….I think Stephen may try to better the speed record when he comes to hand steer later as his stands at a magnificent 14.6knots. So congratulations to Freyja as it is obviously a crossing speed record for us all on this boat but not ‘Bimble’s’ all time record speed which was 18 knots on the trip down the coast of Portugal last summer.
So all night it was reefing the head sails to the gusts and then in the lulls of 22 knots or so (!!) rolling them out again. We had two man watches working so that there was enough ‘grunt’ to do the winches and still allow a helms person.
I have totally loved it out here and have come to see that excitement and 'oooh errrr' feelings are very close bedfellows….and it is in that I have learnt so much about what I am capable of, the sailing/skippering skills I am learning since taking this on, the descion making we are having to do on almost a minute by minute as as we watch apparent wind speeds, true wind speeds, SOG whilst listening to the songs and sounds of the boat and contemplating the edge between enough and not enough sail. The huge seas occasionally rush so fast beneath us that there is a crescendo of rumblings and a staccato vibration into and up to the cockpit and saloon floor. The Ocean swell has been confused and slams into the sides of our keels creating huge bangs and crashes and shakes the whole boat. It is only that we have endured this for days that anxiety is an emotion that is way gone, it is now more taken over by tiredness due to disturbed sleep and just the pure length of this voyage….I think however much we try to rest, sleep and there is plenty of down time we are probably all sleep deprived….BUT onward, forward we sail and journey towards St. Lucia, we are hoping to make the best time possible….334 nm to go.
Onto our crew daily happenings - Freyja and I finished watching ‘Sense and Sensibility’, I cried buckets. Lucy has been reading and doing a chef routine making a delicious salad….and watercolour painting this afternoon. Stephen is cooking today and using the last of our leeks, we love his spicy rice and tuna/veg bake/pot cook…..The leeks would have it made it all the way to Rodney bay so we could have held them aloft in triumph….Now to understand this you would have had to go to Clares ARC Provisioning seminar in Las Palmas….Clare, as an ARC ‘Yellow Shirt’ will be faithfully there to welcome us in St Lucia and she also brilliantly interrogates and collates how well fresh foods is preserved and survives the journey to share with future crews…..she had a great photo of a manky looking leek held a loft in the tropical sunshine from a previous year.
Rod is a happy man helming and having great time on the boat in his quiet reflective way….he seems to love to watch the Ocean vista. I think he and I balance one another in a good way, whether our crew would agree….but we won’t go there!
I mentioned the meteor, as each night passes we have had more and more ‘shooting stars’ and last night was a amazing light display. There is also a ’smiley’ new moon in the early part of the night…..it is a lovely companion after the deep dark nights we have had since the full moon waned.
We hit a very heavily infested part of the Ocean with sargasso weed, it went on for miles and miles. Great islands of it floated past……but as evening came we seem to have left it behind for now.
There has only been one boat around but we are hoping to see more as we all converge on St Lucia. A non ARC catamaran called ‘Orange’ crewed by 3 germans and a frenchman called us on the VHF as we sailed past today to ask what does Bimble mean, have a chat. and they also wanted to know if we had a recent weather forecasts…luckily we do and shared them readily. We are going to see them when we arrive but they already they are quite a way behind us.
Could the Rally control please send our thoughts and best to ‘Garuda’. What a ghastly thing to happen, a dismasting must have been a truly horrifying experience….We hope that they are now fairing well and regathering themselves for the next part of what is even more of a challenge….We are so sad and sorry that we cannot offer any support being about 100 nm off and in the wrong place but I am sure all those in the vicinity are giving a hand, diesel etc……So safe journey guys. It is always very sobering to hear such news and brings into sharp focus all those safety plans, briefings and drills pre voyage.
Photo today of the sunrising, it looked like it was floating on the Ocean……’cooked English’ breakfast for the chaps in the cockpit and strangely Freyja lying on the cockpit floor assessing if the vibrations could be cured by the dagger boards being up or down slightly…the bucket has nothing to do with it!
Nina Ducker and The Magnificent Crew of ‘Bimble’….love to all XX