Day 21 – Friday
A one night Stand! That’s all it was worth. We feel let down and cheated. I woke this morning and she was still there, flying high in the sky at the head of our boat but without any goodbyes or indications she ripped from foot to head as we sat happily having our breakfast after a great night out. Well I suppose things were too good to be true. So from 9am we were back to 2 sails again and the wind which was predicted of 15 knots and over did not appear. So here we are bobbing, 7 men in a boat and we don’t even have a dog.
Strange thing is that since we have moved into the western hemisphere, we have not seen any fish, other than flying, or birds. Is this a sign of Global warming? Maybe they just speak Spanish and Portuguese rather than English and Zulu or something! I seem to be bumping and bruising myself today little more than normal. A yacht like Hot Ice or and most like her are designed to make you tough. Her surface is covered with ledges, pulleys and blocks, hatches, stays and various other items that are designed for kicking your toes on. As previously mentioned the doors and companion way are constantly hitting your head, and assisted by the rocking and rolling of the boat all the other parts that jut out tend to bang into various parts of your body on a regular basis. We have had only 2 bleeding toes, 3 bleeding hands, plenty hits to the shins, and everyone is sporting bruises of some sort on various parts of the body. I don’t think Kevin, the tallest of us all, will stand up straight again, he has hit his head that often.
In the afternoon our spinnaker team got out there again and started to see if we could repair the spinnaker for the 4th time. After resizing it now for the 3rd time we had a new “virgin” bag up after some hours. Out she went a lot smaller then before but still giving us a little extra speed in this light wind but more importantly we could take down the main, which in light wind groans and bangs continuously in a very noisy and annoying fashion. We left it up and it is still out there! At present the crew spends a lot of the day discussing the wind or lack thereof. Shaun is often seen searching the horizon and speaking to some hidden sea god challenging them to do better. Mike sits in the cabin swearing before retiring to his bunk to calm down. Jean is determined to calculate us out of the situation and keeps working over the numbers again
and again. Kevin try’s to put it out of his mind but it is difficult now as the number of days get more and more. Warwick is filled with youthful optimism, and try’s to take on the attitude “what will be will be”. Mark, the skip, and the professional amongst us, tries not to show his feelings but I sense under that cool exterior he also wishes to get a move on. I am just as frustrated, and keep relating it to long cycle race where I never seem to get closer to the end. It feels like the Berg and Dal for me all
over again! Similarly I was battling with punctures and no pump and there was no point in stopping as there was no one to help. I finished 3rd from last that day but it was most satisfying in the end. I am sure that this will be the same. Just to get there now, one gust at a time.
The crew has asked everyone to stop praying for light wind and pray for 40kts on our beam. I wonder how long we would like that for. No fish and no birds yet! We are heading for the islands “I da Trindade” and we expect to go round the top of them and possibly get a glimpse! Kevin and I made mince curry and potatoes, and rice. This time with beef mince rather than ostrich mince to the delight of some of us. I headed to the bunk around 9pm as I was on the “dog shift” 2am to 4am.
From slow coach … till tomorrow …
Position [18 54 S 22 15 W]
January 26, 2014 @ 9:40 am
Hang in there! You guys definitely should have had a 2nd Spinnaker! Don’t recall ever racing without a spare. Like think that would have made a huge difference to your boat speed.