Crazy Horse - Sundeer Challenge - Day 4 and Life at 15 degrees (of heel)
On rounding the waypoint yesterday morning we had 725 miles to the next
waypoint situated at the start of the Hydrographers Passage, our path
through the outer reefs into safe water off Mackay. Twenty four hours on at
0500 today we had covered 210 miles, and now a few hours later have fallen
below 500 miles to run. If we can keep up a good average speed we hope to
make sight of the entrance to the Hydrogaphers Passage on Tuesday morning.
Once we settled onto our course yesterday the wind filled and the seas
started to build, compared to the relatively calm first few days. Crazy
Horse was loving it, tromping along at a steady 9 to 10 knots, eating up the
miles to our destination. Early on the decision was taken to balance the
sail plan, with a reef in the main, and hoisting the staysail - an exact
match of what Ocean Jasper was flying. We sailed in loose company during the
day, although OJ headed up for boat speed and moved south of the rhumb line
(direct course between two points), a trend also set on the course to the
first waypoint.
A message from our shore control team read "Danger - High Tetesterone Level
Alert". Were we to issue a round of bromide to take them down? No - we're
not to get too carried away with the challenge and push Crazy Horse too
hard. However we had already heeded advice from Rally Control Paul whose
parting words were "Remember it's a marathon, not a sprint!" Well in the
same way we were being gently reminded that World ARC was the marathon, and
this leg was only just about the half way point. Message well understood and
happy to report "Tetesterone Levels Normal"!
A frustrating night of fluctuating airs, both in direction and wind speed,
meant that our average speeds dropped at times, and Ocean Jasper crept
ahead, and is now sitting on the eight mile radar range cursor, six miles
south of our course and ahead on the port bow. Whilst standing head about
the spray hood during the last hours of darkness this morning watching the
tiny white spec of OJ's stern light in the distance, enjoying the cool
morning air, I started to contemplate - is it harder to be ahead knowing
your competition is just behind you, or for us, the challenger, to be behind
but able to shadow the leader? One thing is for sure OJ can't let their
guard down, but then neither must we loose the enthusiasm to catch up.
Following the quieter night, dawn broke with the sea apparently calmer, and
so it was agreed we'd increase sail to creep up on OJ. It was fun for half
an hour, but as the wind built it became apparent that we were over
canvassed and so we shortened sail back to the more comfortable sail plan
we'd enjoyed for the last 24 hours. There was a little tidying up to do
below, but not too much!
So here we are again - after today's roll call of other yachts positions,
comfortably on the heels of OJ, but well ahead of the rest of the fleet.
Everyone is enjoying excellent winds with all boats reporting that they had
not motored yesterday. Reporting engine hours on the daily roll call is
being tested on this leg as a way of enabling all yachts to understand how
others are fairing in the different wind conditions across the fleet, and so
there are no surprises when the total engine hours are reported on arrival.
The trial seems to be going well, and is likely to be adopted for the
remainder of the rally.
You might have thought that once the sea conditions picked up the catering
standards would slip. Admitedly a simple sandwich lunch was all that was
called for as we got used to the conditions, but by the late afternoon Matt
was back at the stove, and delivered a meal to be proud of consisting of
steak dianne, creamed potatoes and garden peas. The freezer stocks of
uncooked foods is going down fast, as is our stock of bread from Vanuatu
which seems not to have had preservatives in it, and has developed an
insteresting strain of mould, which to preserve stocks we are cutting round
until it gets too bad!
Particularly for those of you who don't sail - imagine living life at 15
degrees. To do this imagine you have been given a plot of land to build your
own home. The land is on a sloping hillside, and your builders, instead of
allowing for the hill, build your house perpendicular to the land, your
floors are parrallel to the hill, your walls at an angle. Now imagine all
your belongings in that house - the sofa on castors that rolls to one side
of the room, the loo on an angle (together with the water in the bowl), a
shower tray that never drains, a basin that's hard to fill, a fridge that
opens down hill (along with it's contents), a bed you roll out of, stairs
that are like an assault course. The only saving grace is that your stove is
gimballed so it stays upright, even though when using it you are not! Over
time you can kind of get used to that and adapt how you live. But then you
discover your house is also on a fault line and when there is an earthquake
it moves - left, right, front and back. Constantly. For a few minutes you
have calm and you are back to life at 15 degrees, and then whollop - it's a
pitch, or maybe a roll, or maybe both! That's where all our energy goes -
just living on a boat at sea is a challenge!
And there are the strange noises - always in the middle of the night. For us
last night it was an unexplained banging in time with the motion of the
boat. Skipper Bill was first up, discussing the problem with on watch Matt.
Lying in my bunk thinking to myself maybe it's a loose keel, maybe it's time
to get up and put on my lifejacket? It turned out it was a previoously
experienced problem of the out of use spinnaker pole resonating on deck -
something it does at certain speeds, and easily solved with a thick cloth to
support it. No need to get out of bed afterall, so rolled over to try and
get some more sleep before the early morning call for my morning watch, safe
in the hands of Matt and Bill.
As the days go by the competition seems less important - but it's still
quietly there!
Ramblings from a Crazy Horse supplied by Andrew, with support from Matt and
Bill!