Weirkraken - Weir Kraken Blog cont

Magnus Goes Home Day 14/15 (we are not sure which!)Today was a lovely sunny day with sadly barely any wind at all. Which although frustrating did allow the crew and especially the cooks to enjoy the boat level for once. Magnus kept shouting "sail it like a topper" as he kept changing the sails (from 3 to 2 to 3) reefing the sails and in his excitement forgot to check the course and just as he thought we had picked up a bit of speed, realised we were heading back to Las Palmas. We will not let him forget this.During the after-noon Archie had a particularly scary time when he decided (with the approval of Rupert and Magnus) to test out the the compulsory life line. Having jumped overboard he found out that not only was it practically impossible to hold on to and kept dragging him under the. read more...

Weirkraken - Weir Kracken Blog cont

Force 10 Again! - Day 13A really horrid wet day,which the bedraggled XLNT spent mostly below. We played a lot of Rummy (Archie is still winning most of the time) while the stalwart Andy took the brunt of it and was drenched in the Cockpit most of the day. THEN in the evening things took a decided turn for the worst. Between 8pm and 12 pm Liz and Rupert spotted a bit of lightning on their watch and Liz insisted that they put a mobile phone ipad and the satellite receiver in the oven in case of a lightning strike. On the second watch all hell broke loose... the winds got up, a phenomenal amount of rain came down and lightning and thunder was all around us leaving 5 of the 6 crew members battling the elements!!, reefing the sails etc. The sixth member of the crew she is ashamed to stay. read more...

Weirkraken - Re: Log Weir Kraken cont

Pilot Whales - Day 12Another lovely day, cooler but sunny with good winds, which wasenlivened in the after-noon by Andy spotting a whale which veryobligingly came over and frolicked by the bow giving us a good 1/2 anhours entertainment.As we are now almost 500 nautical miles from St Lucia we have starteda sweepstake on the estimated ETA in St Lucia. A prize still has to bedetermined, but the entries are as follows:- Rupert Tuesday 4pm, Andymidnight Tuesday, Archie Wednesday 2.30am, Anne Wednesday 6.30am, LizWednesday 9am, Magnus Wednesday 10am. Watch this space..... read more...

Weirkraken - Re: Log Weir Kraken cont

Pleasant Surprise - Day 11We were all delighted to find that Magnus's gloomy forecast turned outto be wrong and we had a lovely sunny day with just the kind ofsailing everyone imagines we have all the time. The crew of XLNT tookadvantage of this by sitting on the steps at the back and danglingtheir feet in the water, which is actually as close as they are goingto get to swimming on this trip.First contact with another human being was made since the start by aDutch boat nearby, sailed by an American and his crew who had not beenin touch with another boat for two weeks and was clearly desperate fora natter. It was amusing to watch Magnus struggling to keep theconversation going, just as we are doing with this blog.. read more...

Weirkraken - Re: Log Weir Kraken cont

Atrocious Weather - Day 10Many friends have sent us messages envious of us lying on the decks inour bikinis, sadly this could not be further from the truth especiallytoday where we had constant sheets of horizontal rain and stormyweather. One ray of sunlight however for the XLNT crew was that MPAnneovercame these extremely adverse conditions to bake some deliciousbread. A feat indeed!! We managed to have supper outside when the rainstopped where MP Anne was rewarded for her efforts by being attackedby a Flying Fish which flew into her back. After much discussion inwhich Archie wanted to play with it, Anne prevailed and bravely lentover the side to return it to the ocean.We werelittle sad to hear that we had slipped from 3rd to 5th untilMagnus explained that this was due to tactical. read more...