A bit of sail rejigging as an early morning call to compensate for the wind dropping off; all with the atmospheric, rather than spectacular, sunrise as a back drop. This meant we were in for slow rolling as opposed to full on rocking. Duties were calm and we even had time for a leisurely lunch together on deck. Surely this is what sailing the Trade Winds is supposed to be like. It’s bound to be plain sailing from here on in. We’ve got 600 miles to go; full wind in our sails; half a ton of risotto rice; it’s sunny and we’re wearing sunglasses – hit it!! [cue Blues Brother’s music]
24 hour progress – 183 nm – cumulative 2396 nm
Now, the more cynical amongst you may believe that the next blog items have been staged for affect to alleviate the tedium of recent entries, but I can assure you that this is all a true account of what actually happened:
The issue was discovered by Colin as he went forward to catch some rays (and a bit of space) on the foredeck. He noticed a split pin on the deck under the mast. Further investigation showed that this had come from the goose-neck clevis pin. For those of you who do not know where or what this is, it is effectively the connection between the boom and the mast – a pretty important linkage really!! So, now Houston, we have a problem…how do we get a pin back in and aligned to secure the goose-neck clevis pin (GNCP)? [cue Mission Impossible theme]. The A Team donned life jackets and underpants and even needed support from the supporting cast. The mainsail was dropped and then there came a complicated realignment process, with various sheets, halyards, ropes and ties being tightened, loosened, readjusted and tweaked in order to get the various planets to align. After about two hours of grappling at the mast, using a vast array of pliers, screwdrivers and hammers, Alan and Jamie managed to get a new split pin into position, to secure the boom and save the day – hurrah!!
During this process, the RYA inspector of Unspecified Work Processes, Norris the No-name bird, turned up to make sure that we were in full compliance of all safety procedures. He must have been content as he extended his visit throughout the day. Unfortunately, none of us are ornithologists, so our naming of said bird inspector is somewhat unsatisfactory [blogger’s full apology]. However, we were rather pre-occupied at the time and ‘Norris’ was the first name that came to my head for some reason. He (could be a she) is a small heron-like bird, white in plumage, with a prominent pointed yellow beak. He likes fish, as we saw him swallow one. We think he might be an egret, but please send your answers on a postcard to www.whothehellami.com or www.whatthehellamidoinghere.com.
Anyway, everything now appeared to be back in order and we were back sailing again. Please refer to incident report GNCP02 for further details.
So drama over…er, not quite! Next operation was to change over the jib, from goosewing to conventional reach. This meant disconnecting the spinnaker pole and reattaching the other side. Except the detach mechanism would not release and reattach properly. So this resulted in the need to drop the spinnaker pole and go fully conventional jib. Just to make it more fun, the mother of all squalls (Teressa) decided to visit during the middle of this process – more rain than a monsoon storm or a summer’s day in Glasgow! Those who were outside during this operation were completely soaked and those inside were pretty wet too, as water found it’s way inside through every window and opening. The only one who remained dry was Norris, who was taken shelter in the rubbish box under the rear cockpit seat – no bird brain this fellow. This event would normally register as an incident report, but was simultaneously usurped by a more tragic event – the washing overboard of Jamie’s underpants. More details can be found in the incident report JUPAS03 (Jamie’s Under Pants Abandon Ship).
Well, that’s it then for a full day’s blog…er, not quite!! A delayed supper and a collectively knackered crew were looking forward to quiet night shift. Up on first watch was Colin & Callum. The usual few squalls, but nothing untoward initially. But the seas were growing and the odd rogue wave was throwing the boat off course, skidding off the top of wave’s, like my old man’s Ford Cortina power drift round corners. The precursor was a large wave that came over the bow and through the open hatch in Alan’s cabin, for an impromptu shower. Then came along the big one, which put the Cortina into full slide mode; Antoine couldn’t handle it and we were way off course, crash gybing before we could get things under control. The JAGS preventer snapped, leaving sails flapping more than Norris in a heavy storm. More under pants required and the A and B Team sprung to work to get sails down and secured. Eventually, we had a couple of reefs in the mainsail, jib furled and preventer reattached…and breathe!!! See incident report WTF03 for reference.
For the remainder of the night, we were happy to bob along about 6 knots in the general direction of St Lucia and just tolerated the rocking and rolling again. Norris was happily sleeping in the cockpit!
Clive the cabin boy standing by…