Race 10 - Day 23
Crew Diary - Race 10 Day 23: Seattle to Panama
23 May
I am confused. Are we on Race 10, Day 23, or on Mission Panama City Day 5? Or both? We were frequently warned during training that there could be a looooonnnggg hike to Panama by motor, but everyone thought, especially me, that it wouldn't happen to us. But here we are, still 900 miles or so from Panama City and not racing any more. What helps is that the towing process only occurs when there is insufficient wind to move us at 5-6 knots, so we are currently under sail with the Code 1 up, making good progress. However, the winds are still fluky, so there has been a fair amount of bobbing around too. PSP Logistics and Nasdaq (goodness, it was great to see them a few days ago, let alone the novelty value of doing so) are still sailing too, and they are ready to join us on the great towing adventure when needed. Apparently, there is yet another wind hole developing just outside Panama City, or a mere 200 miles or so, which we hope will be the final challenge to cross.
There have been two main events today on the good ship Pink Panther. Firstly, we had a crew meeting to discuss tactics for improving on Race 11 to New York. We had a lot to talk about on this, which resulted in the meeting taking place for over an hour, and the weird effect of my watch having breakfast and lunch only two hours apart. Unsurprisingly, lunch take-up was less than usual.
And secondly, we've had our first time change of the Leg. To date, we've been on Seattle time, which has led to the anomaly of dawn at 4:30am and sunset at 6:00pm. This is also a major psychological step in this part of the Leg, as we are now in Panama time and are looking east even more because of this. Bring it on.
On the wildlife front, we saw our first rays this morning too. They jump out of the water and splash down really quickly, so by the time someone has shouted “ray”, all that's left to see is the remains of the splash – very frustrating. But then, during the crew meeting, I spotted a ray jumping about 100 metres on the port beam. Not very close, but near enough to spot it doing a beautiful semi-somersault before landing back in the sea. And then it jumped a second, third and fourth time. Imagine my dismay at not being able to jump up and point them out to everyone, as the timing would have been totally inappropriate. Oh well...
We've also had a lot of birds with us today, of the gannet family I reckon, who have been competing to roost on our bowsprit (it's very frustrating not having a relevant book or app to identify them). The record so far has been seven perched on the tack line (the line attaching the spinnaker to the boat). Imagine our glee as the order cane through to replace the windseeker with the code 1 spinnaker, as one of the main actions is to blow the tack line to release the spinnaker. A few feathers went flying, but I can safely state that no animals were injured or had any loss to their self esteem as a result of our sailing manoeuvres.
One visionary in the crew also suggested a novel idea for getting to New York faster. Using the tried and tested manner of James of Giant Peach fame, we could harness the birds to gain additional speed across the Caribbean, or even better, transport us there. This was received with great excitement as a feasible idea, until someone mentioned that we were missing the vital ingredient of many miles of high quality spider silk, darn it! Unfortunately the bosun's stores cannot help out either.
If any pinkie supporters out there have any other ideas for Race 11, please send messages to Lyndy by Squid Mail or by Bernardo Airmail Services (see previous blogs for clarity).
Continue to think pink and wish us well to New York in Race 11.