15:15.9N 057:20.9W
As I type we have "Reach" by S Club 7 blasting out the cockpit speakers. The level of Dad dancing by Minkey and Jags is very worrying...
As is becoming a regular occurrence, yesterday was very hot forcing us to seek shelter under the bimini and suspend all maintenance tasks until the temperature had dropped. The day before we discovered that the furler (a drum at the front of the yacht used to roll Debs away) had lost a few bolts. In order to fix it we had to remove the pole, drop Debs to the deck make a quick repair and rehoist. We waited until early evening and performed the whole manouvre in less than 40mins and the relaunch was so slick we could have been fully crewed on a Solent round the cans race boat!
Fresh rations are now sparse on board but this still doesn't stop the culinary genius who is Ben from creating a taste sensation. Tonight he made a spinach and chorizo curry (don't knock it 'till you've tried it). It tasted stunning and we're still trying to get the recipe out of him. All we know is that he used a rusty hammer and a sauce pan instead of a pestle and mortar.
We knew from our daily weather forecast that we were in for yet another night of relentless squalls and pin accurate helming. Mike gave each crew member a little coaching on how to deal with the conditions (a book on downwind helming and accompanying DVD will be released for Christmas, a bargain at only 25quid) and we broke into our 'storm watch' system. Well the forecast did not disappoint. As the first night time squalls hit, propelling Little Pea into double figures, a small pod of dolphins played with our bow wave. Each subsequent squall that came seemed to hit with more force and colder rain than the previous. This process continued throughout the night. On his final nightwatch before sunrise Mike, having just been hit by his largest squall yet, caught a wave and started to surf at great speed when suddenly the wheel became unresponsive. He'd done it again, broken more kit in the dark on his watch! Luckily Pea has two wheels, so Mike jumped over the port side wheel regaining control narrowly avoiding sending the boat into a spin. Jags sprung into action fitting the emergency tiller (should we have full steering failure) and assessed the damage (as well as the repair cost which did nothing to improve his mood that night). The one problem with this sort of failure is that it's nearly impossible to fix whilst the boat is moving, therefore to save loosing yet more costly time to repairs we continue with just one wheel and the emergency tiller ready to be used in anger!
By the morning the crew were exhausted, hands chapped and blistered from helming, and hoped that dawn would bring a more relaxing sail as we get very close to the finishing line.
We finish with a short extract from Mike's new book on downwind helming:
Chapter 17 - Recovering from a total cock up
Should your newly acquired downwind helming skills that you have learnt in this book fail you and you're sent into a violent broach follow these easy steps to regain control:
1. As the yacht starts to round up, start using short sharp expletives to forewarn your crew of their impending doom.
2. Once broached, heavily curse the wind, tide, sails,nearby vessels and local marine life. Make sure you don't curse the boat or Neptune - they do not like that and will make you suffer more before helping you regain control.
3. Ask a fellow crew member to 'dump the main and vang/kicker
4. Jolt the wheel from hard lock to half turn and back to hard lock to force water to flow over the rudder.
5. As control starts to return make sure the main brought back in and preventer tightened and straighten up onto your intended course.
6. Blame everything (gust, rouge waves, that dodgy repair, local marine wildlife) except yourself
7. Apologise to the yacht and avoid any eye contact with the owner for a couple of hours.
8. Repeat.
Jags, Mike, Minkey and Ben
Picture in advent calendar = Not sure, it's still a melted chocolaty trodden on mess
Max Boat speed = 14.8 kts
Number of Reefs = Nil.
Maximum Gust = 36 kts
Number of flying fish = 1, which hit Jags in the shoulder
Number of dolphins = 8
Number of Whales = 0 (Brian has disowned us)
Amount of Rain = Lots, on the hour, every hour.