Arkyla’s start went exactly to plan… we kept out of trouble, crossed the line cleanly, and pushed out into the channel to set pole and twin headsails. How smug we were positioned close to the head of the fleet but south of the forecast wind shadow were most boats were flying their Parasailors (yes, I still hold the pain!).
But oh how that smug smile was quickly wiped off our faces. Soon the wind dropped quicker than a rude joke at a Puritan’s meeting, and the seas became more confused than a workman put in a room full of shovels and told to take his pick! With limited wind angles to play with, to save ourselves delving down toward the Southern Ocean, we reluctantly set the main and moved to a broad reach pointing ourselves northward to the polar bears of the arctic rather than their penguin polar counterparts! Broad reach however is, by far, Arkyla’s worse point of sail; by early morning, Arkyla finds herself firmly at the back of the fleet!
Two tasks to achieve before we can reset the twin headsails for a direct rhum line course; first, unjam the mainsail creased at the top of the mast slot. Second, break out the bosuns’s chair to send a poor soul up the forestay to apply dacron patch tape to two seams on the leach we spotted opening up… a right pain in the a**e, but better a small fix now than a large emergency later! After all, this is our last downwind option after our Leg 1 fiasco!
We now hope for some stronger winds, but fear a few days of slow frustrating sailing. Yesterday’s 24-hour run set a new record for least travelled… only 133nm! Our time is still to come!