Bimble - Bimble log day 5

‘Day 5 - A Rookie crew trying to get the best out of Bimble’

Wow another big learning curve Ocean sailing for us ‘Bimblers' in the last 24 hours. Overnight we had gusts of 23 plus and a big rolling confused sea. So sails were rolled out then reefed down, then let out again, Both Rod and I are cautious with the same aim to get us and the boat to St Lucia in one piece, so a few extra days sailing because we are slow, who actually cares….except we all look forward to that welcome rum punch.

Rod and I shared a watch over night, so instead of our usual 2 hours on we did the 4 hours together which was really nice to share. Given the wind strength it was good to have a extra pair of hands ready on deck rather than having to call for help. Rod and I are in such close proximity on the boat but we actually haven’t had much quiet time together to chat together and take in this epic journey.

So we crossed the Tropic of Cancer sometime in the night at 23 degrees south to no ceremony or razzmatazz……good job we didn’t have any fish guts and heads to pour over us….hummm yes, apparently it has been done, YUK!….I gave thanks to Neptune.

The day brought big swell which we surfed down along with wind strength of 18 to 23 knots….the wind shifted back and forth from NNE to ENE, so we have tried so many sail plans in order to keep going SSW to reach the southern route with a reasonable pace for us to make the turn to the Caribbean. So that plan looked like gennaker only then wing on wing head sails…..we also broad reached for a few hours. It was all hands on deck as it was full mainsail up, then reef one, later reef two and then shaking them out until we finally are sailing dead downwind again with twin head sails doing 10-11 knots.

Freyja and Stephen were doing a competition for best speed when they were hand steering. Freyja won with 13.4 knots….it is satisfying her competitive spirit because I am so adament that we are NOT racing, ….for us the ARC is a rally and only a rally. I understand why they say two boats going the same way means the race is on but not if there is a Nina on board, I think I lack the compeditive gene!

So competitive spirits are met on board in other ways with a pub quiz and of course 'joke of the day’ which was won by Stephen again but the catamaran ‘Sea Child’ joined in today via e-mail and sent us a brilliant one….Unfortunatly due to content it is not possible to publish either joke but they were GOOD and gave us all a really big belly laugh!! Do send us ones if you can….I unfortunately could only share an amusing anecdote from my ‘Infinite monkey Cage’ podcasts I love listening to when on watch. I am pretty useless at remembering jokes.

Pilates, ukulele practise and trombone playing are coming along nicely and fill the spaces between sleeping and eating. We are still having the most extraordinary and yummy diet….tonight we had a smorgasbord of delights that was so visually beautiful, all thanks to Lucy, again…Others are cooking to but between Freyja and Lucy they seem to pull the rabbit out of the hat. Our emergency rations of crisps, choccies, biscuits etc aren’t as yet touched as we are full with gourmet delights, maybe by day 10 plus we will be raiding the illicit less healthy yummies. The tuna isn’t finished yet but we have decided tomorrow must be our last day, it has been so delicious….sad no other ARC boats popped by to join our fish lunches and suppers….maybe they all have enough of their own fish.

Oh yes, we decided after all our sail handling exertions of the day to start Christmas early!…..we broke open the festive mince pies and they were very lovely too, a little 'perk me up' whilst we rested and recouped our energies.

So we haven’t seen dolphins since the first day…but we have seen the odd bird and lots of flying fish. The stars are getting more and more intense as the moon is not rising until the early hours and now it is on the wane allowing the dark of the night to set the back drop of the light display. All the glorious things of nature, the infinite universe, the endless, endless ocean view, the beautiful sun rises and sunsets are satisfying us and feeding our spirits.

We are content on ‘Bimble.and everyone is getting along really well with a lot of laughter... and most importantly we are all taking care of one another…..I could still do with feeling less tired but I think it comes with the territory…I’m off to my bed now, ’Night, Night’, I will send this during my watch that starts at 2am..

I hope everyone else is having fun whatever they are up to.

Nina Ducker on ‘Bimble’

Postscrip at 2.55am…..I am very refreshed, slept very well and ready for whatever a new day brings…YEAH!!