Monday 13 November
Yesterday, at long last, we were able to find a bit more breeze and as it came round more to the South West we were able to get our Code 1 spinnaker up. The boat is more stable and we were moving along at a decent clip of about 12 knots with wind of about 14 knots, and going in the right direction. I am back on the horse again now and, powered up on a supply of liquorice allsorts(!) we managed a 30 mile run in a 2 hour period on the helm. Great sailing, although it could have been a cold winter’s day in the Channel rather than the Southern Ocean as we have still to see good heavy seas and real winds. Maybe they are waiting for us a little further down the line?
Flying the kite has again shown the shortcomings of weight of numbers in our watch. We currently have 3 out: Johannes (man mountain) is in his bunk with a really heavy cold; Jon (rugby prop man mountain) is still confined to the bench with his injured hand, probably for the rest of the leg; and Farmer John has been on Mother Watch today. So the watch has been down to a maximum of 5, making no allowance for the need to do other jobs, such as cleaning the heads and pumping the bilges. Really you need at least 6 on deck when under spinnaker, to cover the potential need to drop the kite unexpectedly in case of man overboard or a kite wrapping itself round the forestay, so you can see the problem. As a result, some of the things that really need doing before we meet any heavier weather, such as some repair work on the Code 3, which we have not been able to do before now we are still not able to do even though the boat and warmer temperatures otherwise would allow.
However, all is forgiven on the basis that we are now making decent speed again without beating into the wind! The fleet now seems to be forming line abreast over a front about 150 miles long. It is remarkable how close to each other the main body of boats is after 13 days racing, following different lines, with different weather patterns and different mishaps. All still to play for!
Today, however, it was back to the old routine. After a really frustrating night trying to keep the kite flying as the wind circled the compass and slowly dropped, this morning the wind finally gave up the ghost and died completely. We were drifting with the kits dropping over the bow in conditions we have not seen since the Doldrums (although a tad colder!).
Meanwhile, Andy had a conversation with the skipper of Liverpool (one of the northern boats) this morning, who said that they had spent the last 5 days beating hard into heavy seas under a fully reefed main and smallest Yankee, doing no more than 8 knots. They are only 100 miles away. Weird conditions; do we blame this on global warming, El Niño or what?!
Simon Round the World 