Maiden Flight for New Kite.
For nearly a week now, it has lain dormant, primly clothed in its snuffer,
and smouldering inside its magnificent new Turtle. For the first few days,
it shared the skipper's bunk. But then it had to fend for itself, stuffed
into the sail locker along with all the other smelly old sails. But today,
at long last, the new Spinnaker flew for the first time. Squalls
predominated last night, with bursts of heavy rain. Today, towards the end
of the morning, the Skipper finally accepted that the wind was steady enough,
and the decision was made to fly the kite. Reverently, the Turtle was
eased from its lair below deck, and soon Paul and the Skipper were ready on the
foredeck, with Volker concentrating for all he was worth at the helm.
"Hoist!" came the order, and the kite sped up the masts, clothed only in its
snuffer. Then the critical moment; the Skipper lumbered back to the
cock-pit, and Paul heaved mightily on the sunffer line. Woof; the new kite
was full of wind, and drawing lustily, with the skipper shouting urgently at
himself to trim the sheet and the guy properly. Unfortunately, all these
efforts proved to be in vain, as the wind simply died. After a few
minutes the snuffer line had to be used once more to draw the snuffer (led
by its wonderful Carbon Fibre bow-shaped mouth) carefull down over the the
blue-edged, white bodied marvel. It was extinguished, and there was
nothing left but a memory. However, it gave us a chance to see that all
looks promising with the new kite. It has broad shoulders, is silky
smooth, and to cap it all, it has not only our Sail Number on it, but also
CLEONE in big black letters. So they will all know who's overtaking
them!
Apart from that, as indicated, it has been a diffiicult start.
Bruce's promised lulls and squalls appeared in full, and we have had everything
from over 30 knots of wind to a flat calm. Since leaving yesterday
afternoon, we ahve made just over 100 miles north from Recife. It is going
to be a long trip, but we are all determined to make the most of this last
leg. We are all feeling exhausted after our dirty carnival week, but it is
wonderful to be at sea again.
Meanwhile, all is well with us, and very best wishes to you all.
James, Paul and Volker
Yacht Cleone
06o11'S 34o28'W