can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Mischief - Up to Mischief Log 38 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Wednesday, 16th May 2018 - en route to Suwarrow

The wind eased as the night progressed, dropped to below 10 knots and came around onto the beam so we had to drop the genoa off the spinnaker pole. But come daylight, just as my watch ended at 0600, Dave rigged the spinnaker to hoist so no sleep for me with him clambering all over the deck and calling instructions aft, so I gave up and went back on deck to set the sail and we are now back to 8 knots boat speed in 15 knots of wind on a course of 290 degrees.

There was a medical emergency overnight on one of our fellow ARC fleet boats, Lunatix the fastest boat in the fleet. Apparently a crew member had got in the way of the mainsheet on an accidental gybe and the gybe preventer failed: head injuries and lacerations resulted, and he is lucky to get away with that as there are tons of load in that amount of wind. A doctor on Emily Morgan advised over VHF and Lunatix is now heading back to Bora Bora having stabilised the casualty. We wish him well.

We have a tiny island called Moto One somewhere off the port bow - we can't yet see it but the vhf has been hot on the subject, e.g. "How many Moto's are there - One"; "Moto Too, would that be a moto as well?". To be truthful I have made these ones up myself as the others were too awful to relay, not to say these were much better, but you get the drift.

A big rain squall with the spinnaker up came and went leaving me soaked, but as before I now have washed my undies whilst still wearing them - true multitasking! Once passed, it sucked all the wind out and it has yet to come back, so the rig is banging and crashing so still difficult to catch up on sleep.

1200 Position: 15 degs 47' W 154 degs 16.2' S C: 300 degs Speed: 7 knts Noon/noon run: 154 nm

Sparkling sailing this afternoon in the sun with 15 - 18 knots of wind from NE. The spinnaker repair appears to be holding well - touch wood! Rob is still feeling a bit rough but slept most of last night 'til this afternoon. He was perfectly alright until he had half a plate of my chilli con carne last night!

Sue got the Blue Peter Badge as we passed Moto One and spotted the trees. It's only a ring of coral with a tree or two on it and apparently there is one person living on it, the height of anti-social behavior I would have thought. Certainly no Irish bar to be had there, but at least he is free to do whatever he likes so long as it doesn't involve going to the cinema perhaps? And another Blue Peter Badge to Wendy who has actually spotted a "Moto Tou" island off Tonga somewhere so it does exist!

At 3pm precisely I sat down below with a cup of tea and closed my eyes, when BANG!!!! "Charlie!!!" - the spinnaker guy had parted, again. This happened several times on the Atlantic ARC and is caused by chafe, and these were 16mm dyneema costing a small fortune, yet they still succumb. Anyway, the spinnaker was flapping happily in the wind needing urgent retrieval, but I suppose it was a relief that it wasn't the sail that had split, the guy rope is easily fixed.

We dropped the bimini hood to see the stars tonight so I rather hope it doesn't rain, but to be able to see the sails without peering through Perspex or around the bimini frame is a luxury as I find it a bit claustrophobic.

Trevor made a chicken curry for tea and Rob managed t eat a little which was positive.

2400 position: 15 degs 29.1' S 155 degs 34.3W C: 268 W: 18-20 E Speed: 6/7 knots

Really rolly and sailing deep is causing the mainsail to slap hard, so we are having to sail above our course by some margin. Emily Morgan is following the same course downwind as ourselves and she has passed in front of us by a mile around 1am sailing even higher than us. No doubt we shall see her again tomorrow coming back the other way.

Such a starry night and even the new moon showed itself early evening. Without the bimini up we can see it all - the Milky Way is a treat!

Thursday, 17th May 2018- en route Suwarrow

Awoke for watch at 6am and immediately we put in a gybe to starboard tack and put the spinnaker up on a new course of 295 degs, near to our proper course from here. We are now back to 7/8 knots in winds of 15-18 knots NE. A lovely sunny morning.

We have set the spinnaker on a guy armed with leather protection at the end - we should have used it yesterday to be honest and paid the price with a snapped rope; definitely out of practice with rigging the kite, but it went up as sweet as a nut this morning. However, we had to drop it again at 1030 as it became too windy.

1200 Position: 15 degs 17.9' S 156 degs 58.1' W Speed: 7.5 knots Wind: 18 NE Noon to noon run: 165nm

A beautiful afternoon developed into a squally weather system and at around 1700 a big one came through and nearly blew my wig off with 43 knots of true wind (force 9) and 29 knots apparent, whilst we still had a full main up and full boomed out genoa (thank God we didn't have the spinnaker up). We had no choice but to run with it for a while in horizontal driving rain with visibility down to 20 meters, screaming along literally, with me hand steering! As soon as we had a chance we furled in the genoa completely which took the sting out of it, but we were still doing ridiculous speeds. It took about ten minutes to abate but we kept the genoa rolled with a reef in the main as we awaited the next squall in line which I managed to steer around. Sue and Dave were on deck armed with shampoo in case we got further rain, but I avoided it to their chagrin.

Just before the squall hit our three fishing lines all went off together so had to shout for Dave to help Trevor and I reel them in. We pulled in one yellow tuna, not too big but not too small either, the fishing rod catch ate the lure and disappeared, which left the third line which I was playing - it was heavy whatever it was; could it be a mahi mahi, a wahoo or indeed another larger tuna perhaps? No, it was a bloody great grey shark with teeth and everything!! It was really strong and fairly fed up and had its mouth wide open so there was no way on this earth we were going to bring it onto the boat, so we hauled it in until it was near enough to check its dentures to the mental tune of the Jaws theme, cut the line below the swivel and off it went. As the film famously announced, "I think we need a bigger boat!"

As a result, our tea was delayed: bangers and mash; the sausages were not all that good which was a shame but Rob likes mash potato and in his present below par state he did manage to eat some. I have redrawn the watch rota to exclude him for tonight so that can sleep it off a little bit longer.

Previous | Next