22 May 2010
Day three and a day beset with squalls. Poles out this way, poles out that way. We jibed, jibed and jibed again. I could almost hear Voyageur saying, "for goodness sake guys make up your mind"! Asolare overtook us last night finally disappearing over the horizon by lunchtime. Liza who had been playing cat and mouse with us over the last couple of days also suddenly reappeared and swept by us on the opposite tack. We had been discussing putting up the ballooner for two days now and were still no further forwards in making a decision. Trouble is we are just too lazy and lack the competitive spirit. I much prefer to work out the lunch and dinner menu than the sail plan. Besides, I have got into a really good book. 'The Last Voyage of the Lucette' was a remake of Dougal Robertson's shipwreck story 'Survive the Savage Sea', which I have read twice. I do not find this account nearly as gripping. I think it is because from the moment you open the original book it starts with their shipwreck and therefore gets straight into the action. However it is still a great read and one history's most amazing sea survival stories. I look out over the vast empty wastes of this immense ocean and it does make you think of your own fragility. Anyway, what a sorry state of affairs it is when you are reluctant to put down your book for a change of course! But Voyageur doesn't mind. As long as she keeps moving on roughly the right direction and as long as she is not too hard pressed she is perfectly content, and so are her crew.....
That night the wind continued to perplex with frequent changes of direction. The squalls came and went and behind them we would find ourselves slopping about on a confused sea with no wind. Then gradually the wind would fill in but always with a swing of up to 60 degrees initiating another jibe. At 4am I had to get David up to jibe yet again. With the moon now sinking low in the night sky, it was still possible to execute this manoeuvre without using the deck spotlight. Things settled down again and we were once more following our rhumb line course, but it was not to last long. By 6am the wind had died to 6knots and the cacophony of sails flogging and poles banging shook me awake. I clambered over the lee boards of the pilot berth and up into the cockpit. The wind had died to 6knots and we were making 3knots through the water. It was time to put the engine on.....
Susan Mackay