Sailing around the World, ( presently at sea between Vanuatu and Mackay, Australia,)
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Tue 20 Jul 2010 13:23
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TUESDAY 20th July
2010 Night 5
00.00hrs The wind was still holding up
nicely, even though the weather forcasters suggested it would get very
light
perhaps as low as 3 / 4 knots....... thats
non existant for us. and we are so determined to do this leg without using
the engine.
00.30hrs The wind eventually went very slack,
as predicted, down to 7 knots, so we sailed just with the blue spinniker on its
own
and made 2.5 / 3 knots over ground, ( current
against us )
At this stage,
Distance travelled...........................804
miles
Distance to the Great barrier Reef....189
miles
06.30hrs, the wind had increased to 10 knots and we
were making 5.10 knots, again, just with the spinniker
It was another beautifull starrey night, and the
half moon vanished at about midnight, a beautifull sailing
night.
We had a real heavy dew during the night, it looked
as if someone had turned a hose on the boat for the night, and it was
also very chilly to boot.
09.00hrs RADIO CALL , The radio
call today was conducted by " Tucanon " a U.K. catamaran , and the
master of communications for today was none other than the lovely " Bubbley Bev
",,,
Anyway, Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper are still well
ahead of us, but their advantage is reduced to about 38 miles, we may yet
have to
rely on our handicap. then Kallioie was after
passing us , but they used their engine, and again they are also
giving us time.
It seems most of the fleet motored at some stage
during the night , and the penelties for motoring are draconian.
10.30 more blinking holes in the spinniker, there
has to be a gremlin up there on the mast and whats more we need to find it
before it claims
another spinniker, 3 good size holes,
so we took down the chute and repaired it once more, and rehoisted it after 35
minutes,
Scotty took a trip up the mast and taped up
anything that looked sharp in an effort to stop the chute getting
damaged.
Skipper lost a few pounds winding him up the
mast, thats the excercise for a month !
12.00hrs and all is well,
Distance
travelled...................................846 n miles
Distance to the Barrier
Reef.....................143 n miles,
14.00hrs, the wind had gone very light again as
predicted by thre forecastors.
18 oohrs the wind had increased again and we had
some great sailing in beautifull flat seas and blue clear
skies,
Now we had 18 / 20 knots of wind, and
with the spinniker and mainsail, we were doing 8 / 9
knots.
19 00hrs, As it got dark, well nearly dark, cause
the 1/2 moon was keeping the whole place bright, we got invaded by red
footed " Boobies"
4 landed and took up residency on the top of the
mast and effected our wind instruments severly, beggers, and nothing would move
them,
we tried using the fog horn on them, and they just
thought we were playing games with them . ahhhhhhh
then we had another one or two on the crosstrees,
and another on the life rails , just by the cockpit,
How he managed to stay there and balance himself
was a sight to see. like he was onle a couple of feet from us,
The mast was like a " Boobie Tree " and of course
we had all our Nav. lights on for good measure, they must have thought that the
lights
outlined a Boobie runway.
20.30hrs, Aileen served up a delicious
stuffed roast chicken dinner in the " Starlight Restaurant", with roast
potatoes, carrots, peas,
bread sauce, and crispy strips of
bacon,,, yum yum , the ships reputation lives on,, especially
for the 3 fat ducks.
Later , Skipper and Scotty took down the spinniker,
and rolled out the Yankee ( Headsail ) and not a minute too soon,
no sooner than we had it all stowed away, the wind
increased to 27 knots, boy were we glad we made that
call,
just instinct.....
Another moonlit nightas we bomb along towards the
Great Barrier Reef, and we are all excited about this
destination...
Thats it for now,
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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