Olympia's Tigress Blog 5 - birthdays, birds and all the sail changes
So we continue to head westwards and are now officially on the Rhum Line. Temperatures are hot, as is the humidity, and it's now common to find at least one of our boys spending their off-watch sleeping on a sail like a beached sea-creature to escape the 'saunas' of the aft cabins. The wind's been variable, resulting at times (and usually at night) in a rather comical number of sail changes. Last night's attempt to swap the J3 for the code zero, and then for the S2, and then for the number 1 head sail were all executed in full, except the actual hoist, within a 30 minute window, much to our poor bowman's dismay. It didn't help that he was then pelted with two flying fish for good measure.
We also managed to take in a little bird on one of our S2 drops. Glenny found the stowaway underneath the chart table with a poorly wing, as he'd somehow managed to squeeze in one of the windows. There was much excitement, we called him Frank, put him in a little box, the girls gushed and cooed, the boys grunted to throw him overboard. In the end the decision was made to release him and he floated away into the distance. He'd had this smooth black bill like a dolphin's nose and feet like rubber flippers - it occurred to me afterwards the boat might've been the first dry land he'd ever experienced. Best of luck, buddy, hope you're still out there somewhere.
The other highlight of the last few days was Curly Cath's birthday. Team Tigress pulled out the stops with ever impressive resourcefulness by presenting her with a bottle of cava and 8 'champagne flutes' made from upturned bottle tops. We also made her a card, ate toasted croissants with jam, and stuck a sail-shaped candle in one of our snacking cakes. Make no mistake, these racing teams don't do things by halves!
Better go, tracking another squall with a hand bearing compass. Get me, seasoned sailor in the making don't you know.
Kat Suchet - Onboard Blogger
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