35 35N
49 10W
13:30 UTC
The wind has veered west and for the last 12 hours we've been goosewinged and bowling along in 15 - 20 knots dead downwind.
While this is different from being permanently heeled, dead downwind means continuous rocking and rolling. Moving around the boat is a permanent dance weaving your way from one end of the boat to the other. Cooking and everything else is a balancing act. As for sleeping; the only way to sleep is to make like a "snow angel" lying spread-eagled to avoid being rolled around the bunk.
At some point during our trip through the Caribbean I picked up a book "Overboard" by Michael Tougias. Given the title neither of us wanted to read it especially as it is a story of "disaster and survival" in waters that were crossing. However, in the absence of anything else yesterday evening I opened it up. About six hours later I put it down, stunned. That might have been because we just sailed these waters, albeit a bit further south and are also an insignificant wee spec in the middle of an empty ocean. If you want a good read, get a copy!
Given the content of the book we thought we'd conduct a risk assessment. The key issues we determined were:
- concussions from flying fruit if the net fruit hammock gives way.
- slipping on a squirt of sun tan cream where you missed trying to lash some over your shoulder.
- cauliflower ear from spending too long chatting on the SSB to the other ARC Europe boats.
- start wearing flares and flowery shirts from a constant audio diet of your old 70's tracks.
- ending up with an eye splice on every piece of cordage, whether it's needed or not, now that I've finally mastered the technique.
More down to earth, we're pressing on, making good headway. Later today, the forecast front and low will start impacting us, the northern route boats are already getting the northerlies with accompanying rain. The centre of the low is likely to bring lighter winds from the north / north east at just 10 knots so we may end up motoring and that might give us a chance to catch some fish. It's interesting how in just 30 or so miles there's two distinct weather patterns. The longer we can stay in ours the better.
Keep checking our position on the fleet viewer at www.worldcruising.com
Stuart & Anne