DAY 9 SQUALLS

DAY 9 SQUALLS 1670 nautical miles to go

 

We had dissapointing speeds yesterday morning but as the day progressed the wind and current improved and we averaged 7 knots.  The wing on wing provides a better speed combination but no matter how we adjust things, the blustery weather and large swell cause excessive roll.  It is really uncomfortbale and makes it very difficult to do simple tasks.

 

We continued into the night at a good speed.  I handed the watch to Ian at midnight.  The swell was increasing and there were numerous squalls apearing on the radar.  Most of the squalls were running alongside Faraway and helped with the speed.  At around 1 am Ian was lying in the cockpit and the boat started to try and veer hard left.  It got worse and the wind suddenly went from 15 to 30 knots.  Faraway accelerated up through 8 1/2 knots and the auto pilot tripped out.  It was really disorientating.  The wind was now in front of the genoa bashing it against the whisker pole violently.  Faraway was heeled over almost to the point the boom was entering the water and the hull echoed as the waves crashed down the side.   Ian called me to the cockpit-I rushed half awake grabbing my lifejacket as I went.  We needed to get the genoa in quickly.  Unfortunately in this set up the sheet to release the genao is on the port side and the sheet to wind the goenoa in, is on the starboard so it is not a 1 man job.  In the middle of this Ian had to manually steer Faraway in the dark. 1 of us also needs to use the torch to see the genoa.  You need 5 hands!!!!  Eventually Faraway ended veering right and we had the wind on the staboard beam.  It reduced a lot of the sail flapping, slowed us down and gave us time to gather our thoughts.  In the ensuing chaos the genoa ended up in a baggy mess of cloth and sheets wrapped around the furling system.  We discussed leaving it in,  Ian going out and fixing it(going out of the cockpit at night is an absolute last resort-especially with only 2 on board) or attempting to pull it all out and fix the problem correctly.  We let the wind die down and then opted for the last option.  Despite the mess it all came out nicely.  We then reefed the genao to 50% in anticipation of another surprise squall attack.  On inspection this morning there was no obvious damage-luckily.

 

It was a really good reminder that we must be prepared for sudden weather changes-things always happen at night!!!

 

After this event the wind died right down to around 8 knots and we have made poor progress over the last few hours.  If we can average 6 knots over the next 36 hours we will reach midway by day 10 1/2.  We palnned on 21 total so we are just achieving our objective-this is still dissapointing though as we started really well and Faraway should be capable of better.  Perhaps we will get better, steadier conditions on the next 1500 nautical miles.

 

We continue reading books, watching DVD's and enjoying the sunsets, stars etc....

 

Ian made another Caesar salad for dinner-the last one as our lettuce's are finished.,  We should be able to squeeze another 2 days out of the tomatoes, cucumbers, avacados green peppers and carrots.  We have a dodgy looking cabbage (will make wasabi coleslaw today) The pears are finished and I think the apples will go another 4 days.  We have 1 watermelon that will last until next week.  The 4 large bunches of green bananas are just going yellow-they will all happen at once so it will be bananas bananas banana pancakes banana bread banana.....  We have potatoes, beetroot, onions and garlic that will last until the Marquesas.  So overall despite our earlier losses things are ok.

 

4 fish

 

SORRY ABOUT THE SPELLING,TYPO'S GRAMMAR ETC....TRY DOING THIS ROLLING AROUND IN A 3 METRE SWELL 1500 MILES FROM LAND, WITH LIGHT REFLECTING ON THE SCREEN IN TIRED CLOTHES AND EXHAUSTED-It is a real experience cruising the South Pacific-different from the movies.  I am sure we will look back on the experience with fond memories.