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12/12/2012
Little Pea's Arc Blogeramma 14 - It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!
14:07.7N 60:0.9W We're ever so nearly there! Current predictions are that we will finish in the early hours of the morning of the 13th Dec. Its getting hotter and hotter, the sea is turning turquoise and we can smell the run punch now. How much further to go is becoming a routine question... When we were in Las Palmas (having heard about the postponement) we did a little sweep stake on when we would arrive. the predictions were as follows (all times are in UT - British Time Zone) Jags - refused to say for fear that he'd jinx our campaign and, as the owner of the boat, didn't want to tempt fate. However, he is now saying that (privately) he thought it would be 1am on 13th Dec (Huh?)Ben - 1200hrs 14th DecMinkey - 2100hrs 16th DecMike -.
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11/12/2012
Little Pea's Arc Blogoramma 14
15:15.9N 057:20.9W As I type we have "Reach" by S Club 7 blasting out the cockpit speakers. The level of Dad dancing by Minkey and Jags is very worrying... As is becoming a regular occurrence, yesterday was very hot forcing us to seek shelter under the bimini and suspend all maintenance tasks until the temperature had dropped. The day before we discovered that the furler (a drum at the front of the yacht used to roll Debs away) had lost a few bolts. In order to fix it we had to remove the pole, drop Debs to the deck make a quick repair and rehoist. We waited until early evening and performed the whole manouvre in less than 40mins and the relaunch was so slick we could have been fully crewed on a Solent round the cans race boat! Fresh rations are now sparse on board but.
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10/12/2012
Little Pea's Arc Blogeramma 13 - MIKEY...!
16:25.20N 53:30.24W Day 13. It started with one of those strange moments when we all stood together bemused - facial expressions vacant... not yet able to make sense of the scene before us. When in unison our brains seemed to catch up and we all galloped to the front of the boat - still unsure why, but aware that our first priority was to retrieve the head sail from the water and to secure our floundering pole, currently flailing around above the deck now unstayed. Several minutes later we had retrieved our sail but now the question - what had caused it to drop? It must have been a problem with the rope that held the head sail up, but there was only one way to be sure... MIKEY - GET THE BOSUN'S CHAIR, YOUR GOING UP! 20 minutes later Mike.
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09/12/2012
Little Pea's ARC Blogoramma 10 - Sail repairs at sea
18:22.3N 46:30.8W Friday, day 11 at sea. "Spinnakers were made for man to put up, and God to bring down..."Qu: Laurie Smith (famous racing sailor) It all started with the decision to launch Barbara. All our sails have names and Barbara (also known as Big Babs) is our big kite. She is the largest spinnaker in our wardrobe and is a b*tch at the best of times. Used in the right conditions and handled with respect, she will give us another 2 knots of boat speed. However, Babs is also moody, temperamental and prone to savage bursts of anger. Unfortunately, she was is such a frame of mind today and the price we had to pay was high. At 0900 hrs, whilst Mike was on watch, we prepared Barbara for.
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