Greetings from yacht Ensemble
We are getting close to the finish of the first leg - with only 150nm to go we should be there just after sunrise tomorrow (all to plan)!
Our current position is N 10d 53.179', W 076d 23.116'. Course 237 T, wind speed 25-30 knots, swell 2-3m, barometer 1004 and rising, temp 28C.
Yesterday the wind and waves made for a very bumpy ride! White horses everywhere - with wind gusts nudging 40 knots and swells over 3m. We just have the jib up - and it is reefed in - and we still hit a top speed (surfing down a wave) of 20 knots... so it was getting a bit scary!
Sea state and wind are down a notch today - so hopefully smoother sailing.
Needless to say the kitchen duties were kept to a minimum. We still managed pizza for lunch and sushi / mahi mahi papiotte for dinner. We are a little bit over the seafood - so probably just a pasta tonight (or maybe a steak).
With the extreme weather conditions and other members of the fleet (and us) experience breakages - we decided to go through some scenarios - like what to do in the event of a capsize. This is one of the main debates as to why mono-hulls are better than catamarans - the idea being that if a mono-hull rolls you have a good chance of ending up back the right way up (provided you don't lose a keel - or sink - and maybe you won't have a mast left).
The theory is with a catamaran you have two stable states - one the right way up, the other upside down - (it has escape hatches on the bottom of the hull for this reason) - but because you don't have ballast (and presumably enough buoyancy) - you won't sink (where as "a mono-hull has two stable states - on top of the ocean - the other on top of the ocean floor".
We had also read a couple of articles about recent boat capsizes in races over the last couple of months - and some of the preliminary findings.
Anyway - we realised that sailing double handed - one of us would probably be resting in our bunk - the other at the helm station. We decided to 'tweak' our current procedures: spare life-jackets, tether, knife, PLB and torch kept by the bunk at all times; as well as the PLB and knife, putting the Iridium phone and VHF handset in the 'bum-bag'; wearing our life- jackets during the day; and not attaching the tether while in the cockpit. (The first problem encountered was to remember to lock your phone - I touched dialled and now have no credit!).
Needless to say - with all this scenario planning - we were a bit 'twitchy' - a situation not made better when a rouge wave splashed up onto our outside dinner table (fortunately just after we'd finished dinner)!
Things calmed down a bit during the night and we managed to get a good nights' sleep.
Today we're hoping for a much more relaxed day - and a chance to catch up on some 'house-hold' chores.
Cheers
Dave and Magali
Today looks like a much calmer
14Jan2012 003