Ahoy!
Are we gonna see Tasmania today? When we will arrive? Yes Nikki, it is the same kind of questions my pirates are asking now, and with those zigzags it is a bit difficult to answer them!
About zigzags, we were bang on course but then the wind turned a bit and the sea state became quite confused, so we struggled to keep the boat on track and there was no way we could fly a spinnaker. We lost some places and some ground with the leaders, but the morale is still high and until the finish everything can still happen.
Today I had to go aloft to fix the Yankee halyard and
when doing my daily checks, I saw that the halyard was twisted around the
forestay. With the load, it can be very dangerous for the cable and most
importantly, if we had an emergency, it would be nearly impossible to get that
big sail down. So, you have to go aloft with two halyards (one for back up) but
the thing is, normally we use a spinnaker one and then a Yankee one, but the Yankee
was up and to untwist it, I need the secondary with me to by-pass them, meaning
I had to go with the two spinnaker ones.
But when the sea is rough you have to clip yourself around a spinnaker halyard to
prevent you flying around. In conclusion, I didn't have anything to hold with
apart from one arm.
Try to pull yourself with one hand for a period of 15-20 minutes, I tell you, I can feel my arm! Mission accomplished however, and a little de-brief with the team to explain the matter of making sure halyards are correctly fitted...
Apart from that all good here, looking forward to arrive, and looking forward for a siesta!
OUT