Apologies to those who spotted my deliberate mistake of yesterdays blog title being the second Day 4, instead of Day 5 - a sure indication that we are settled into a routine, and one day is simply merging into the next! On board Crazy Horse we work standing watches of 4 hours; with three of us on board this means 4 hours on, 8 hours off, at the same time each day.
My watch is the 4-8 morning and evening, and I am happily settled into the routine. I prefer this pattern to one with daily changing watch times, as do Bill and Matt. We all have our jobs and these dovetail nicely into the pattern. Some prefer variety in their watch system, but each to their own!
By 0500 this morning we had taken 150 miles off the distance to our Hydrographer Passage waypoint. I say taken off the distance because we certainly sailed more miles than that yesterday with our gybe to regain northing to the rhumb line, and then our fun in the middle of the night. During the middle watch our speed dropped as we drifted in light airs, and then the wind (what there was of it) backed through 100 degrees to north west! With the spinnaker set we had no choice but to follow it round, steering east for a while - away from our waypoint! After minutes the wind slowly veered and we gently hand steered Crazy Horse onto a course which had us heading south away from the rhumb line for a good 15 minutes, before eventually being able to work back to a south westerly course. We settled down for the morning watch averaging just 4 knots until dawn. The temptation to motor out of trouble was there - but we didn't take it, as there's a bottle of champagne at stake! I'd be surprised if the boats closer to us didn't get the same lull and wind shift as the forecast trough passed over.
All this happened in a designated "shipping lane" - not a traffic separation scheme, where we would not have been allowed to make such strange manoeuvres! Thankfully there were no ships around - that came later shortly after dawn. One ship had a CPA (closest point of approach) of 600 yards ahead; thanks to AIS I was able to identify the name of the ship and call them on VHF Channel 16. Whilst they did not reply, they did alter course to pass safely one mile astern.
Skipper Bill enjoyed a lay in today, deserved after a busy night, and having the peace and tranquility of the forecabin thanks to our gentle progress and less violent motion! An hour or so after dawn the wind started to fill in and we are now sailing comfortably under asymmetric spinnaker towards our destination. And what of the competition? Well Ocean Jasper also resisted the temptation to motor last night, ghosting along under Parasailor and a double reefed main (to stop it blanketing the spinnaker), and at 0900 this morning had 4 miles less to the waypoint, but was considerably further south and possibly not as well placed to make the most of the forecast wind angles for today. It's going to be close at the waypoint!
We are looking forward to the challenge of the Hydrographers Passage - especially as it seems that if we maintain our current speed we may arrive shortly before dawn tomorrow (Wednesday).
And in the meantime living up to the Crazy Horse mantra of "Adapt, Overcome, Improvise" (Rosemary you are still with us, in mind if not in body!)
Three Crazy Horses, Bill, Matt and Andrew