ODE DAY 9
Hectic night with spinnaker yawing around
Kept up in the morning until a squall came down
The dawn was fantastic with skies of pink
But looks of rain made us think
When squalls came along at close thirty knots
We simply had to do box and cox

So the owner in his underpants showing
Controlled the main immodestly flowing
The crew can’t wait for the next gybe
Last time Dave lost his beer over the side
Gybe completed and now on course
Cobby quipped without remorse
“If I were young again I’d do the Whitbread”
It would be easier than this boat some of us said
So now we wait for squalls of Trade Wind
Sail changes a plenty to exercise the mind.

K8 BLOG – Mon 4 December 2006
We’ve had a busy few days believe it or not? This Atlantic sailing is not as easy as they all let on to be. We have to throw in gybes, drop spinnakers, hoist them a few minutes later (and this spinnaker is bigger than most of our houses – 4000 sq ft!). But there are the good sides – wind, rolling deep blue seas, turtles, flying fish, and of course a Sunday roast. As you at home were all settling down to your Sunday dinner last night, we were also doing the same. Floss had made a fab roast beef dinner – medium rare (at one end!), three veg, roast and mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pud and REAL gravy! Only prob was it was delayed by 5 mins whilst when we had to throw in a gybe. Down in the galley Floss was juggling roasting tins, yorkies and most important – the gravy. Still we all calmed down to a fab dinner and then the white watch took over from the red watch. (Top cooking tip – bash Yorkshire puds with a wooden spoon to stop them rolling off the plate!)
Cobby also felt it was just like home – on Sat night, whilst sailing under white sails, we put on a DVD. As 7 of the 9 crew watched the film, Cobby was a bit concerned. Nora has stated that he was going on ‘holiday’ across the Atlantic. “What?” He declared – “I am not on holiday I am on a racing yacht!”
Sunday was a busy day – not only lots of sail changes, but we also had to fit in our half way party. At noon we celebrated the half way stage with champagne, hats, balloons and toasts. A good time was had by all until it came to putting pinkie up again. Those in the sailing fraternity will know of a ‘dip pole gybe’; well this time we did a ‘dip Jarrod hoist’. Jarrod was winched to the end of the pole to spike the spinnaker and during that operation the boat took off on a wave and buries its nose – Jarrod got a dunking and said the water was warm! BTW – it’s Jarrod and Floss’s 18 month wedding anniversary today and have decided to have a quite night in. Also during the hoist, Chas got his first bowman dunking, twice! The bow went under with Chas hooked on – despite that, he came up grinning. During our crazy, broachy, gybey moment, we had a flooding. The bathroom window on the weather side was open and when the boat rolled half the bathroom was filled with sea water. The culprits claimed it’s easier than having to clean the bathroom floor!
Today being Monday it was DT’s turn to put out the bins – it was green bins today, so at 0700 strolled up to the bow and put the ‘gash’ into the anchor locker. Wed will be blue bins.
Wildlife! Now that’s been a bit lacking, if you don’t count David up on deck in this underpants during a rapid spinnaker drop. We haven’t had any pods of dolphins swimming around the bow, but white watch claimed they saw a beige/gray whale and red watch saw a 6ft turtle which was rapidly swimming to get out of K8’s way. A few flying fish, one which flew past the helm’s nose last night and landed on the deck, but got quickly thrown back in. A few sea birds who have been fishing around us; we must disturb the fish.
Our position in the race is looking good – we plot in the positions of our competitors and follow progress. We are racing hard, plenty of spinnaker work, trimming and physical steering in our 20+ knot winds. All the drivers have been instructed to “drive her like she’s stolen” and at the moment are up for grand theft bateau. Boat speeds are in the 10 knots range with Alan holding the record of 12.7 knots. He wasn’t very happy at the time since Kealoha was considering going into a Chinese Gybe involuntarily, but holds the record nonetheless.
Apparently the yachts can be seen on Google Earth – look out for the bright pink spinnaker! If you log onto the ARC website – worldcruising.com, you can get a link Google Earth. You will also see our position, so you yotties at home who have computers and handicaps, watch our progress. Currently (1900 hrs, Mon) we are lying 10th overall and 3rd in class (we think). We actually get more info from emails sent from David’s wife Diana and brother Phil! Thanks for all the emails, they are much appreciated.