Crew Blog

From windseeker to no headsail in 3.5 hours

14 April 2008

Saturday 12 April 2200 hrs (boat time): The Lady Qing is still stuck in the middle of the Pacific. There is no wind. The boat speed reads 0.00.

Sunday 13 April 0130hrs: The Lady Qing is racing along in 30+ knots of wind. It is now too windy to fly any headsail at all. The crew is completely done in after going through the entire sail wardrobe.

This is the story of those exhausting few hours…

We can set the scene by going back a few hours to early afternoon. The watch (I forget what we are called this time) is on deck. There is no wind, the boat is still not moving, and has barely moved for the past 48 hours. The mighty Pacific Ocean has not a ripple on it and takes on an eerily beautiful sheen.

We come back on watch at in the evening and we are pretty much in the same spot as before. We flop around for a few more hours until we get the news that it is time to hoist the no.1 Yankee. It appears that there is a little wind. We are not that excited as the no1 and windseeker have been up and down on numerous over the past few days. But this time it is not that pretend wind that cons you into putting the no1 up, and then disappears again the moment the sail is up, and soon we are flying along.

Then comes the call to hank on the no. 2. It’s pretty tough getting the sail on, as we are overpowered and being tossed around on the foredeck (especially for the girl who generally tries to avoid the bow.) But we get the sail on and up it goes. The Desmond rig is up (2 reefs and the no. 2), so we think that it is time to relax and go to bed. Then comes a call from the back again (sheepishly I would like to think as the no. 2 has barely reached the top of the mast, but I suspect it wasn’t sheepish at all) – the wind has picked up again and its time for the no. 3. So it’s back to the foredeck again and on goes the no. 3, and we do a fairly slick (well not too bad) sail change. Finally the badger seems happy with the sail plan, and we retire to our bunks. But no! As I crawl (well more realistically get thrown) into my bunk, I can hear the other watch dropping the no. 3.  So its windseeker to no headsail, via the 1, 2, and 3 yankees, in around 3 ½ hours, which is perhaps the yachtie equivalent of 0-60mph in 6 seconds.

By Nicole