Crew Blog

Return of the Killer Head

06 May 2008

Day 12 of Race 9 finds Nova Scotia some 1,300 nautical miles from Panama, having just crossed the line of the Acapulco Gate at 1541 hours UTC. We are currently ghosting along in a south-easterly direction, paralleling the Mexican coastline, at speeds of 4 to 6 knots.

We have been plagued with very light winds for over 24 hours now, and the forecast doesn’t promise much more for the next few days (as one of our crew noted: “wind dies, and stays dead for good"), which makes it ever more likely that, at some point soon, the race will be terminated and Mr. Cast Iron Spinnaker’s time will come to shine.

In terms of race tactics, we still apply the same formula that we always have since the beginning, which is: helm, helm, helm and trim, trim, trim, plus some strategy based on consultation with the Ouija Board - SeaPro / weather chart AND a little luck. But when conditions become tough or tricky, such as when we have no wind, we have been known to call on Divine Intervention (we had Vicar Robin on a previous leg) or, more recently, resorting to voodoo, where we stick pins in models of the competition. This practice seems to have paid off in the case of Qingdao, whereby they were some 15 nautical miles ahead yesterday and we discovered this morning that we are now two miles ahead!

With our track down into the lower latitudes, as expected the heat onboard has risen accordingly. (We cannot decide if we prefer to freeze our bums off, or sweat them off. It is hard to find a happy medium.) As the temperature in the boat climbs, the Killer Head has returned in full fury.
In previous blogs it was noted that the head has the approximate volume of a phone box and, in 30+ degree conditions, will not support human life beyond 2 minutes and 57 seconds. Those who forget to check that they have ample loo paper on hand before they do their business and therefore must wait while the Mothers search for a new roll are risking their lives!

Roll on Panama! (2 months to Liverpool!!)

La Mère Ennuyée et La Mère de Toutes Mères Chris & Paul

Image: Mountie Watch sit in the shade of the low side. When sailing upwind, the first thing the wind does is make the boat lean over - pushing the boat forward happens second. By sitting on the low side in light airs, the crew lean the boat over already so more of the wind’s energy goes into pushing us forward.