Endeavour of Cork - Day 3-4 Tuesday-Wednesday

Day3-4 Tuesday-Wednesday

Tuesday pm

We're still rocking along in 22-25kts, and the swell has built up by now. It's hard going - the autohelm, while not broken, isn't keeping us sufficiently on course to use, so we're hand-steering all our watches. Hard going in these seas! (to my mother, who i think thought I'd be sitting on my bum sunning myself for three weeks without moving a muscle - believe me, that's not how it's working out, for now anyhow!)

It clouded over earlier, and got a bit cooler - and I have to say it all looked a bit Irish Sea for my liking. Grey and lumpy and just generally not very pleasant. Jackets and legs have begun appearing - unfortunately not in time for Laura who was having a well-earned rest after her speed record earlier, and got doused by a rogue wave that broke over the side of the boat. We'll all be taking our naps on the leeward side from now on!!


Wednesday am

OK, the joke's over, you can turn the weather off now. Haha. Very funny.

We've gradually crept up the scale to a fairly steady 27kts of wind, and I heard 30 being mentioned this morning. I haven't done a straw poll, but I think I'm fairly safe in saying we're all well and truly sick of this by now. Everything is an ordeal - cooking, washing up, getting to the loo, getting dressed, trying to get a lifejacket on (can't be done with one hand, and letting go with both hands - well you can guess the rest!) - even lying in the bunk is proving to be a challenge. Stuff that's not nailed down is flying around the place, and opening a locker, especially the delph one, is like a game of Russian Roulette.

It's like being in a 41ft salt-water washing machine. The cockpit outside is sodden now from the occasional wave breaking over the side, so it's either risk one of those over the head (I got one standing in the companionway literally five minutes after managing to get dressed in clean dry clothes) or gear up top to toe to go outside. One of the cockpit cushions made a break for freedom last night, didn't quite make it though.

On the upside, though - we've made it past the half-way mark!!!! And it's WARM. On watch last night in full wet gear, I couldn't believe that the winds and spray and waves didn't bring the usual chill-to-the-bone effect that we're used to in Irish waters. In fact the warm wind on my hands was like someone had trained a giant hairdryer on the warm setting on us.


Right, time to go and find the least risky breakfast option available. It may be dry bread.

From a very bouncy Endeavour, over and out.


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