Nutcracker - Log Entry 1 - We never learn...

The first 36 hours on board the good ship Nutcracker have been interesting,
exciting and irritating I think it's fair to say. After a great send off
from the Admiral and her shore team, as well as banging bit of Sean Paul
from the local DJ, we collectively held our breath, put our fenders away and
headed on out.

The start was textbook, room at the mark, good speed, well set sails - until
we nearly T-boned a 70 footer on the line. I won't say who's fault it was
but I will say we are now owed a large case of cold beer in St.Lucia.

The Sun was shining, and we were making steady progress - so we thought we'd
have a little bit of fun. Let's get the cruising chute up! This is
essentially a large colourful sail flown off the front of the boat, that
makes you go faster but also increases your chances of looking like a fool.

We'd been warned all week that there is an 'acceleration zone' around the
southern end of the island where the wind gets significantly stronger... And
I think you can see where this is going. Big discussion about whether we
should get the chute down, big gust of wind, big ripped sail. We. Never.
Learn.

We then proceeded to get becalmed, the speed at 0.00 knots. Thanks to all
those who sent in suggestions about where we should have gone instead to
avoid it, they went down a treat!

The Cabin Boys Nautical Notes

For the avoidance of doubt, the Cabin Boy is my dad (Simon)

NE 3-4 increasing to sail ripping strength around the south of the island.
Decreasing 1 later, when you really needed the sail you've just ripped. Sea
state Calm. It was only white sails through the night with much flopping
back and forth.

Quote of the day

'When the wind speed builds like this, you really want to think about
getting the Cruising Chute Down' - Simon Timm, Toby Hellard Timm

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