Race 2 - Day 25
Crew Diary - Race 2, Day 25
10 October
Sometimes it's grey
If the ship’s clock is right, the 2am to 6am watch has the low of waking for 2am and the high of delivering a potentially dramatic sunrise. The sunbeams can appear through the clouds like some Devine intervention where you expect to see the hand of the Lord point down at you with the associated harking of angels. A real Michaelangelo moment.
However, today the high was more turbulent. The watch started with some mild precipitation so, I hung around the saloon for an hour contemplating doing my duty of cleaning the heads early prior to making my way back to the ‘shelf’, aka the helm. This has been renamed the ‘Naughty shelf’ following the introduction of a sophisticated ‘Computerised Real-time Assessment Process’ to rate the helming ability with a primary school style SAT score.
Midway through the watch with the spinnaker just flying, the heavens open (normally a freshwater shower is welcomed with shampoo bottles at hand) and the wind accelerates as we assume we have entered a temporary squall. While flying the largest spinnaker this is a risk, yet it seemed controlled as our ‘VTB’ (velocity to beer) cranked up to twelve knots. Happy Night? Wrong! We have entered a new weather system, the wind backs 180 degrees with huge fluctuations sending us in circles resisting 30 knot gusts. For two hours we find ourselves sailing away from Punta del Este seriously degrading my SAT score. Massive activity ensues in the cockpit as we attempt to drop the kite, which refuses to be tamed. Next with full mainsail only and the wind not abating steerage is lost as the boat heels heavily into the wind doing some two knots … sideways and backwards! Once reverse steering is mastered and the staysail hoisted we are back on track to Punta del Este at 10 knots. A glance at our two hour track can best be described as an ampersand (&). As dawn breaks and our climatic watch ends, we welcome the relief crew. I make my way down to breakfast noting the grey threatening sky, the grey angry sea, the grey blustery wind and the grey penetrating rain. No sunrise this time. “We’re having a taste of the South Atlantic reserved for Leg 2, but without the cold”.
PS Little secret. The heads never got done that night!