15 September 2010
We spent a frustrating morning poling out this way and that, main furled and unfurled, goose winging the mizzen. We tried everything, anything to keep Voyageur moving along. We finally gave up trying to sail early this afternoon, when the wind died to around 7knots. It was disappointing especially as we sighted our first trade wind clouds yesterday and the forecast had predicted winds of east south east 10 to 15knots slowly firming to 12 to 17knots in the afternoon and evening. It is now 5.30pm and we have not had anything above 8knots the entire afternoon. The hoped for engineless passage is not to be. But the good news is that we are both feeling much refreshed, having caught up on our lost sleep of the previous night. I get cranky when I am tired. All day yesterday, Tuesday, we had the company of Chessie and Drammer, but by this morning the ocean was ours once more. Stephen Hyde from" A Lady" was bold enough to do a roll call last night on the SSB listening watch on 4 Bravo. Eight yachts out of twenty responded, a vast improvement. It was good that both the two newest boats to the rally, Drammer and Tzigane, were included in those eight. There have been several reports from the fleet of floating objects in the water, two of large metal containers, another, a floating raft tethered to a buoy. These warnings were issued via the SSB net, another of the benefits of listening in. WARC always pass on these navigational warnings via email but as we download only once in 24 hours it could be too late. As I write this Voyageur rocks gently to a big rolling ocean swell as we skirt past the Java Trench over 7800metres deep. Then the ocean floor rises dramatically to Christmas Island 200nm to the north. The sun is hovering just above the horizon, a fireball about to be doused. By 7pm I will get into my lifejacket for the first of my two three hour night watches, book on one side, Ipod on the other. It's a hard life....
Susan Mackay