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Gauntlet of Tamar - Gauntlet - Day 13 - Lucky & Sun



Saturday December 8th, Day 13, approx 800NM to go.

Life on board is both settling down and picking up with new challenges and experiences mixed in with old routines. The day started with some slow wakeup's and disoriented sleepy crew as usual. Tom became the crew member of the day with a great catch during his daily rig checks, by noticing a shackle for the Jib that had come undone and was precariously doing it's job, almost at the end of it's thread (it's now been seized by Master Rigger N Martin).

Later with the wind dying off we got a little excited and decided to put the spinnaker up, giving Nick and Stef a bit of a scorching job in the heat keeping it flying, despite low winds and big(ish) swells. We have a new found respect for the Racing Fleet and their almost constant spinnaker flying. The crew decided the best way to stay cool was to dump buckets of water over each others heads but even that was not as cooling as one might expect.

With the wind dying off and the spinnaker refusing to fly we switched back to Goose wing formation only to smell a suspicious smell of petrol. Having located the leak to the tender's outboard (which is strapped on to the back rail) we started looking into the issue. Unfortunately, the fixing operation was interrupted when we spotted squall on the horizon. After a quick reef down and a bit of preparation a much needed fresh water dousing ensued, after which the petrol situation was fixed.

No sextant sights or fishing today and a much needed nap all round. Yummy carbonara pasta produced by Tom, another Squall and a great whoop from the crew as a small fingernail of a moon reappeared tonight for the first time in a while. With approximately a week to go we are dreaming of palm trees, sunny beaches and rum punch. Missing our loved ones back home and discussing life in general under the star studded skies.

Gauntlet Out.




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