Hectic Nights - take two!
The last 24 hours have been the busiest of the journey so far. One thing we
have discovered is that this is NOT a holiday. Sarah's oil to make her eye
lashes grow will have to stay in the bag for another day. It's funny - when we
imagined the Atlantic Crossing we forgot the continuous maintenance that would
be required (and we are talking about the boat - not our nails!).
Flashing back to the scene yesterday afternoon:
The pole was laying down the companionway into the saloon and resting on
Karen's head whilst we were performing surgery to try and recover the trip line.
The kettle was on the boil to see if we could dissolve some of the salt
encrusted on the machinery, together with the old fav' WD40. Thalitta was
rummaging in the first aid kits to find the largest pair of tweezers nine women
own. 13 pairs were put forward first but none lived up to the challenge which
was to try and tweeze the trip line rope out of the inside of the pole. Nine
brains worked hard and we really pulled together as a team. Hacksaws,
screwdrivers, pliers - or as Ashley calls them - 'suppliers' and half and hour
later the solution was found with Alice directing the rope down the pole and
Nikki on her back tempting it out the minute hole it is meant to run through.
Meanwhile, Sarah was keeping the area safe from flying potatoes and Ulli was
helming our trusty steed at 7 knots in the right direction!
Two very frustrated Skippers tore their hair out last night listening to
the flappy flogging mainsail during our windless night and demanded an emergency
drop of the main in the early hours. Alice then put her seamstress skills to the
test (basically tying loads of knots) sewing two new sliders back onto the sail
which we discovered had snapped when it was on the decks. A cheeky little Guy
rope decided that during the commotion he would slide his way overboard and wrap
his way around the prop a few times without anyone noticing. He was caught out
though as he glowed green in the phosphorescence streaming at the back of the
boat when we started sailing again. So more excitement at daybreak with Nikki
taking a heroic dive to recover the rope. She fought her way through hammerhead
sharks and managed to release the Guy from the Prop and bring him safely back on
board. No damage to the underside of the boat and we have a working propeller
again - unfortunately totally useless in the racing class - until we actually
reach St. Lucia!
As if that wasn't enough we also started fishing today and we hoisted the
Spinnaker for the first time. We are trying to pick up speed and gain as much
ground as we can to the West to avoid the lightening winds behind us.
Most talked about member of the team today is Ashley after waking everyone
up for watch an hour early. N.B. Wristwatch needed on the packing list!!
There is nothing better to improve morale after a hard night like we just
had than bacon sandwiches and bucket salt water showers. We are a happy crew and
a happy boat.