Oh yes – despite our previous comments on fishing reports , we felt this
catch could not go unreported .
15lb Dorado ( Mahi Mahi for those in the Pacific ) – landed off the stern
while doing 10 knots ! – this will feed 9 people !
Well done Adrian..
Our online absence for a few days has bourn nothing sinister , other then the need to be interesting in ones writing . daily fish count ( or lack of fish ) and what we ate – doesn’t count . ( although movie and book reviews may… , revisiting the plight of the Jesuits , the Spanish and Portuguese in the 1700’s ( The Mission ) or the role of Cicero in ancient Rome ( Imperium – Robert Harris ) .
Depressingly after spending approx1.5 days repairing the pink spinnaker ( “pinkie” ) – it lasted a total of 1.5 days in sailing time – and alas went with a gracious rip circa 20.00 last night , this has a number of effects – 1) we have no spinnakers left to finish the race , 2) all our hard work did give a slight speed advantage , but only for a short period of time .
Not to be discouraged – we have pooled the computing power on board harnessing the reliability of the PC’s and design output of the Macs – we have developed our own new spinnaker, taking the best of North design, the hole in the sail concept of parasail (we know a lot of the “hole in the sail” theory), joining together the washed and unwashed polo’s, shorts and even the golden apron – in seeking a brand & a copyright for this technology we have come up with –
K-Shite (Kealoha – Spinnaker Handling Integrated Technology Ecosystem )
That said on reading other boats blogs ( sailing spying if you will) we seem to be the only ones who even attempted a major repair. as the wind has died in places we have been forced to use the engine occasionally , carefully recording the usage and miles run under engine . for the non sailors reading this I know you must be thinking – what sort of yacht race allows the use of engines – well the Arc does for various reasons, shear practicalities – as in the old days, we too have precious cargo to get to the other side – only this isn’t coal , cotton , or clay – it is the number of people who need to get back to blighty for work or family commitments ( e.g. christmass1) – we estimate 230 boats circa 5 crew each flying home – that’s a lot of booked flights , strictly speaking the race is not run under the full international sailing federation ( ISAF) rules so the organisers are allowed to alter rules as they like – ( omitting Rules of sailing 52 – use of manual power ) . The cleaver bit is – they don’t tell you until the end of the race what penalty will be applied for engine use , thus if it was a very light airs race , and say everyone used 50 hours motoring then they ,may apply a relatively low penalty ,but if the race committee feel that there was sufficient wind and that using your engine was unnecessary they may apply a higher penalty – the maths involved in this can be head spinning , and we are not too bothered, for us beating our nearest competition , a sistership , coupled with a top 10 place in the race and top 3 in class is our focus – the final overall results will come in late December when the smallest and slowest boat finish – I will update you all once that is known.
Don’t ask about airline tickets – we are very grateful to Rosie’s dad Chris for his help getting us rescheduled with virgin , and didn’t envy Phil H on board spending 30 min on hold from a satellite phone to a Virgin call centre in UK to change his – ( smart money changes them shortly after the half way mark when you have a better ETA)
For now , a lovely sun rise at 06.30 – as the end of this leg is now firmly in sight baring any mishaps , Sunday night Monday morning in Rodney Bay, – if you listen carefully you can hear the base drums of the reggae and the smell of the rum ….
The Crew of K 8
With less then 950 miles to go , spirits are high on K8 – the last 24 hours have seen fresh breeze , flat water and us making up to 9 knots – the fully repaired “pinkie” spinnaker has done the K8 loft proud having passed the 20 min test, it looks good to hold our until the finish .
Pinkie was launched at noon today to the tune “miss you” by the rolling stones …
Clearly more wind meant less relaxation for the off watch crew – no play station or similar on K8 – more like reading on sailing psychology or using the SSB to receive the world service!, while keeping on top of that DVD mountain ( the best of Morecambe & Wise included !)
Having read our closest competitors ( sister ship Oyster 72 – Hola kai ) online blog we were envious of their professional approach , and hope that they make it in eventually, ideally circa 24 hours behind K8 – where we can trade tales of blown spinnakers – and how to repair .
It is amusing to think that with over 240 starters the 2 boats battling it out are super comfortable blue water cruisers – with all mod cons , where leaving your air conditioned cabin to come on watch causes your sun glasses to steam up.. where oyster staff back at base support you like BA first class cabin crew – tending to your every need ! ( thanks also to Gavin for Mastervolt guidance )
Alas , as we are heeled over, the use of the washing machine is considered high risk, so there has been some hand washing of essentials , comfortable that no one will be on the water to photograph the drying, on the line. We all want clean shirts and shorts for arrival.
Today also saw a Wahoo, our first fish on board for canapés , how fast they swim to catch the lure, even better when hooked they swim faster towards the boat, easy peasey.
The Crew of K8
– and celebrates in style ! K8 – Boat blog – guest editor Nick on behalf of all crew We did have to suddenly alter course today to avoid hitting a whale, not an every day occurrence. As we have now been at sea for 7 days, we all spent a few hours on housekeeping – which on an Oyster 72 is always a little different – with pink sailcloth threads from our repaired spinnaker still littering the cockpit – we resorted to using the vacuum cleaner ( well done Adrian ) as part of the preparations of this evenings halfway party. Admiral David granted us all permission to have 2 showers today – what a treat (for some, a first). Gary looked a lot more relaxed on his rig check today – stopping to pose for photos on the spreaders – looking like the salty sea dog he is Then to the main event our half way party – for which invites were issued to our cabins – slipped under the door in the case of those resting . Dress code was “half way” – a great effort was made by all . Trad Sunday dinner of roast beef – with all the trimmings in the main saloon accompanied by fine red wine – well done Jens. followed by various phone calls home to family Nick committed to quit smoking (at last) as it is a long way to the nearest shop and the remaining smokers vowed not to support any contraband activity. We closed the day ,with a reminder that although half way, the risks of sailing the oceans remained the same , and not to let up our vigilance for safety, chafe & speed Nick
K8 makes the half way mark – and celebrates in style ! K8 – Boat blog – guest editor Nick on behalf of all crew We did have to suddenly alter course today to avoid hitting a whale, not an every day occurrence. As we have now been at sea for 7 days, we all spent a few hours on housekeeping – which on an Oyster 72 is always a little different – with pink sailcloth threads from our repaired spinnaker still littering the cockpit – we resorted to using the vacuum cleaner ( well done Adrian ) as part of the preparations of this evenings halfway party. Admiral David granted us all permission to have 2 showers today – what a treat (for some, a first). Gary looked a lot more relaxed on his rig check today – stopping to pose for photos on the spreaders – looking like the salty sea dog he is Then to the main event our half way party – for which invites were issued to our cabins – slipped under the door in the case of those resting . Dress code was “half way” – a great effort was made by all . Trad Sunday dinner of roast beef – with all the trimmings in the main saloon accompanied by fine red wine – well done Jens. followed by various phone calls home to family Nick committed to quit smoking (at last) as it is a long way to the nearest shop and the remaining smokers vowed not to support any contraband activity. We closed the day ,with a reminder that although half way, the risks of sailing the oceans remained the same , and not to let up our vigilance for safety, chafe & speed Nick
Its been all action since the last blog we have had our first whale sighting of the trip, two minki whales on our port side swam along with us for a while. We have seen lots more dolphins in the day and heard them at night time.
Our first flying fish appeared on deck a couple of nights ago and we have since had a couple more sightings. This afternoon I rescued one from the foredeck as it was about to fly down Daniels hatch.
Adrian got the rod out yesterday and we have been trailing a line from the stern. Five minutes after the line went out we got a bite and after 15 minutes of tackling and debate amongst the crew as to if we can justify slowing the boat down for a fish. The boat speed won and the fish got away. We are yet to have another bite but watch this space……..
The golden apron award went to Gary as a hint for him to get more familiar with the galley. He also got a card for his monkey acrobatics after completing a rig check up the mast. Gary took his apron duties very seriously serving tea and hot chocolate to our watch in just the apron during a late night watch….. Jen got so taken aback a winch handle ended up going overboard in the process. The golden apron was then passed on to Phil who I think knew it was coming after making an appearance in the galley in the morning requesting instructions for operating the coffee machine and asking where the sugar was kept… on day 5. Despite last minute attempts to avoid nomination by doing to the lunchtime washing up the apron was passed to Phil. Rosie got a card for being an all round good egg, foredecky, rigger and beautician extraordinaire after giving Jen a pedicure on deck during an afternoon watch.
From the last blog as your probably saw Phils watch was gloating over the 2-0 to them on spinnaker rips…(never a good idea to gloat as you never know what’s round the corner) however this was not to last………….
The weather has improved today but for the last couple of days its been very squally and seen several watches in their oilys, with sails been furled in and out as the squalls come through. Chris Tibbs the weather forecaster said go south until the butter melts. We have been going south for 6 days now and the butter only started to melt today.
It seems that any action that is going to happen tends to want to happen in the middle of the night, the other night shortly after David and Gary left watch and nick and phil took over a squall came through , followed by a broach with our beloved pinky flying, boom in the water and pop ! Pinky our only remaining spinnaker made a dash under the boat for Davey Jones’s locker.! A call for all hands on deck, several crew members in their undies, several in pyjamas and I think at one point when grabbing some clothes Gary was even trying to wear my clothes (not again I hear you say !)we got the spinnaker back onboard and bagged away checked for other damage to get the boat sailing and white sailed til dawn. Having managed to sleep through the first spinnaker rip happening just above his cabin, Daniel who on his own omission could probably sleep through a hurricane made it up on deck to see the last of pinky hauled out of the water.
On a closer reassessment of Pinky it was decided that unlike the big blue spinnaker Pinky was salvageable!. So proceeded 24 hours of fixing.!! First the sail needed to be cleaned, there was uproar from the ladies (and Nick) at the suggestion of using gin to clean the sail so in the end the vodka was sacrificed instead. The sail was dried and brought down below. Then the sticking began !!! For the last 24 hours the saloon looked like a scene from gay blue peter. Pink cloth and sticky back plastic-tastic everywhere. After gluing the tear and sticking the two halves of the sail back together we glued all along the luff then the leach using 60m of tape. On the last piece of sticking the can of glue spray ran out just at the end. An expensive team building event all round finished off after the glue spraying (reads sniffing) happy hour was long overdue and the gin that escaped being used to clean the sail was consumed by most!! So……. This is our last chance, the question 1) will it will it fly 2) how long will it last 3) what wind strength should we try and fly it in !!! 4) If it blows again will the offending crew been made to walk the plank
Luckily for the last 24 hours we have had strong winds and have been averaging 9/10 knots under white sail alone. The watches have been toned down to 2 people on for 2 hours then 6 hours off. This has allowed the crew to catch up on some much needed sleep and after hand steering fro the first 5 days the auto is getting a chance to take the pressure off. Except for a brief interruption at around 6.30am! I was awoken to a torrent of swearing (Note: The first time the majority of the crew have heard David swear) on deck coming through my window and then a call from David to Daniel to wake the crew. The wind had picked up and when furling the Yankee (headsail) the sheets had got caught and caused some carnage at the bow. After turning the boat in a few circles, with instructions from the mast to turn to port, back to starboard, back to port, more to port quick to starboard, unfurl now… pull on the sheet… Yeah its free. Further inspection discovered that the pulpit had been pulled out on the starboard side and was all a bit wobbly, causing the guard rails to come loose. Phil and Adrian spent the morning fixing this and its all a little less wobbly now.
So after an eventful couple of days the sun is now fully out in force, the butter has melted, the bikinis are out and Pinky is nearly ready for re-launch (when the winds dropped off!).
Signing off for now…
Dee
x
