beside the seaside 43:43.60N 010:32.00W
Lady Corinne
iain and gaynor macalister
Fri 14 Aug 2009 14:39
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Oh I do like to be beside the
seaside
Oh I do like to be beside the
sea
Oh I do like to stroll along the
prom,prom,prom
Where the brass band plays diddly om pom
pom
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside
Oh I do like to be beside the
sea
And it's Lady C for me
And the sea's the place to be beside the
seaside
Beside the sea.
The stupid things that run through your mind in
the middle of the night
GoodMorning, It's 11.00 am and I'm getting
towards the end of my watch,it's the first of the day watches which I started @
9 and goes on till 12 I'm sitting in the cockpit having just ravenously devoured
a huge bucket full of crunchy nut cornflakes, Tristan & Gaynor are both
asleep and unaware of the transformation that has just totally changed the
weather. As I look to my left I can see the ravaged surface of the
water which has been whisked into a fury by the storm force winds of the last 14
hours. It looks as though the sun, which is beating down strongly from a
now clear blue sky, is trying to pacify it by floating a brilliantly
sparkling platinum coating over the ruffles on it's
surface. The waves are still big but they are dropping,
to my right I can see a totally different sea which is deep indigo blue
with white horses on the breaking crests, such magic can never be
described. In front of me is Lady C our beautiful ketch, 14 tons of timber
formed and held together by copper rivets into a machine to survive
in the waters we have just come through. The weather we saw
yesterday stayed ahead of us for most of the day and we had a fine day, Tristan,
no longer able to stand himself rigged an impromptu shower screen up by the mast
and had a complete shower, he did smell good afterwards. We passed a
very pleasant day and made slow progress. At around 1800 the wind
strengthened and we started making good speed of around 6 knots with full sails
up.Gaynor took the first night watch starting @ 2100 (2 hours) and
when she woke me @ 2300 she was concerned that conditions were
deteriorating.
We put the 2 fore sails away and started
the engine to put the boat head into the wind and I went up on deck to reduce
the main. Back in the cockpit we let out a very small amount of the inner
foresail and switched the engine off,silence again. By now we were going
like a train (albeit a very slow one) and the sea was getting very lumpy.This
carried on all night and made for uncomfortable conditions below. For anyone who
has never tried to sleep on a small boat in a storm I could only say that it is
a constant and relentless series of movements in every direction with
considerable force accompanied by lots of creaking,banging and whistling noises.
We rigged up the leecloths on the port bunk which we hadn't needed previously.My
watches from 2300 - 0100 and 0500 - 0700 were intense but I felt comfortable
with the conditions for the rig we had up and we progressed at between 6 &
7 knots. Very large waves were coming up behind us on the port 1/4
and it felt like Lady C was almost playing with them the way a matador plays
with a bull. As they towered up towards us ,they looked huge and quite a
bit higher than the boat, as they reached our stern she just lifted her
posterior in a very ladylike manner and the charging monster was dispatched
underneath us to emerge on the other side, bruised from a 14 ton body
slam, with a frothing roar of seeming disappointment that it hadn't managed
to swamp us, before striding of to seek another victim. During my
second stint below, trying desperately to get some sleep I looked up to see
Tristan framed in the companionway(entrance to the cockpit at the top of the
steps from the saloon) he had a grin from ear to ear and was threatening to lock
Gaynor and I in the saloon so he could have all the helming, he was loving
it! We have a good ship here and we all get on so well which isn't always
easy when you eat sleep and everything else in a very small space,Tristan has
been great and is a real asset and Gaynor? well she's Gaynor isn't she - by the
way she is threatening to write a blog, I wonder if it will be like her
texts? Sorry to report that we are down to our last 5 eggs and we're
all distraught, trying to think of what we can do with the last ones, we've had
them in all shapes and forms with the exception of coddled eggs and I'm not too
sure we really know what they are. My concern is if we would have to rely
on Tristan catching us a cod in order to secure all the ingredients. The
boy is possessed and the day before yesterday I caught him putting Branston
pickle on his hooks - desperate?!! I will try and send a picture with the latest
addition to his fishing line. Thanks for the fishing tips Robin he
weighted the line yesterday - with 1/2 a kilo of my fluxed solder, Oh and for
night time do you mean strips of balsa wood? Alex you poor thing,those
mojitos sounded terrible, and I totally disapprove of the consumption of any
alcohol whatsoever Lady C is , on this passage at least, a totally dry
ship. Zara, Zara,Zara I can't believe
it, there I am desperately trying to apologise to you for the terrible way
I've treated you and spellcheck makes it seem like I don't even know your name -
I 'ave shamed myself can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me? Hope
you enjoy your break & your new offices on your return. You could
never have this much fun in a plane The rest of the crew have come out to
play now,Gaynor is eating a bowl of Muesli and you'll never guess what
Tristans doing - fixing his line up for another totally fruitless (and
fishless) day of fishing. Today has the makings of a beautiful day
and we're set to much up some distance too which will be nice!
Apparently we covered 110 miles yesterday - impressed? Lots of love from the
crew of Lady C xx
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