Jack Rowland Smith - Log Day 4 - Log Day 4 - JACK Rowland Smith - The Big Decision

When to gybe and head west, the big decision of the day...... but more about that in a minute.

First some housekeeping points following yesterday’s day 3 blog. My grammatical apology is required, first mate (Sue) has been at pains to point out that it is of course a “pod” of dolphins and not a “shoal”. Also the crew seem to think it very relevant to certain members of our audience that I disclose that, yes I did watch the whole of Mamma Mia Here We Go Again on day 3!!! Getting that out of the way, I can now move on to more relevant matters:-)

Today started with a general realisation for the crew of JACK that we are indeed taking part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and not the Volvo Ocean Race!!!! We have been pushing JACK hard for three days, including hitting speeds in excess of 12 knots in the pitch black, and we should probably respect the boat and our ability a bit more!! So it was not until late morning when we decided to reverse the manoeuvre of 2.00am the previous night and shake out the reefs, well actually only one of the reefs and set off again. In the intervening period everyone appeared from bunks at random times and breakfast was extended until almost 11.00; not to point fingers but the showering queen (our remixed version of the famous ABBA song) always breakfasts late.

Fishing was also put on hold today because the infamous Mahi Mahi catch had been refrigerated overnight and we do not want to catch more than we can eat. We had a lovely lunch of Mahi Mahi and salad cooked by Skipper John but not before our little scaled friend had tried for one more escape. Lunch was served in the cockpit and was all nicely laid up ready to eat when, to our horror, the boat was hit by an unusually large wave which took us all by surprise. I became wicket keeper (cricketing position for my American readers) as the plates of Mahi Mahi came flying towards me. Of course the drinks were uncatchable and a combination of Pepsi and water flew across the table and disappeared, not for the first time on this trip, down the open hatch of Ben’s cabin and soaked his bunk - he was not happy. My wicketing skills, which to this point had not been well recognised, caught most of the food which then found its way back on to plates and was consumed. Even the simple tasks in life are made difficult as we roll downwind in the Atlantic swell.

Second real scare of the day was at 5.00pm when, for a reason we do not know, the chart plotter and more importantly George the autopilot decided to turn themselves off and then back on again. With no autopilot the boat was effectively flying dead downwind in 20 knots, doing between 8 and 9 knots, with no one steering. Thankfully Captain John was at the chart table catching up on downloaded episodes of Coronation Street (or some other equally forgettable soap opera) when he noticed the repeater go blank. Now Captain John is not known for his athletic prowess unless it involves the distance between him and a fridge full of ice cream, however in a jump, (up the pretty steep companion steps), a skip and a hop he managed to grab the wheel just before JACK went into an uncontrollable gybe that would have almost certainly ended up in tears and breakages. We will need to be extra vigilant from now on as autopilot inconsistency is not what we need for downwind sailing and we hope George just had a small bout of “man flu”!

And now on to the real matters of the day, how are we doing. Well having received all those lovely pictures of a blue boat in a sea of multi-coloured boats from the tracker, our shore support seemingly went on strike yesterday. What we do however know is that, based on the latest weather charts that the captain and I poured over yesterday morning, we agreed that another Saharan right flick in the wind and we would gybe and send JACK on a more westerly course to our intended position just north of Cape Verde’s and then on to the trades. At exactly 3.00pm that shift came, or we at least thought it did or perhaps we just got board of port tack!! And so after two days on port tack religiously trying to get south, we gybed and set off in a more westerly direction that really marks the start of our Atlantic crossing (albeit we have already sailed well over 500 Miles). We do however need to keep our foot down because the wind goes very light in the Cape Verde’s area on Monday so we want to be through there by then. We hope to do that. On the subject of keeping our foot down and also not learning anything, we once again got fooled and went into the night thinking it was going to be quieter but a further reef was required at 10.00pm as 11 plus knots of speed were once again being recorded. This takes us about 20 minutes start to end and is not without risk, in fact we crash gybed in the manoeuvre which puts crew and boat at risk and should be avoided at all costs!!! But it is very dark, wavey and disorientating at sea and it is easy to do.

We are now well and truly on our own and have not really seen another boat or any activity on the AIS boat positioning for over a day. Yesterday was a truly magnificent day, blue skies, blue seas punctuated by white crests and a big rolling swell. Exactly what you expect to see mid ocean but the beauty is only realised when you actually experience it. As I write this I am on watch, the boat is quiet and I look up to half a moon and a sky full of stars - what a truly amazing planet we live on. The wind has gone light and we are under powered and not quite steering the course we need. But the wind builds when the sun rises, which is about 7.00am, so we will just enjoy the relative piece for a couple of hours before, yes you have guessed it, the generator ritual starts for the Sue showering extravaganza!!!!!

Crew are all good though Clare still does not feel great and spends much time on deck and asleep (Ben enjoys that because he is not nagged to revise:-)). Ben is happier now we managed to get the sat phone working and he was able to speak to his girlfriend Sophie, John and Sue are excellent hosts though the morning cabin “turn down” service does need some improvement. I just continue to love the experience but am secretly really looking forward to 20 plus knots of trade winds that will see us really start to move.

Position reports would be very well received from our shore crew but keep the tracker pictures small otherwise “Simon the Sat Phone” has a grump and refuses to download!!!

I hope the world is still in one piece, we are blissfully ignorant on the good ship JACK.

Over and out

Nick (wicket keeper of the day)