Some days are better than others, and some nights are better than days. Take tonight for an example. We have the Code 2 (mediumweight spinnaker) flying in 18 knots of wind, reaching at 13 knots of boats speed in a sea way that is no longer rough, under a very clear star-lit night. There is really only one negative from a sailing point, and that is that we are following another yacht after leading for about 1,500 miles. This leads me onto our day prior.
Greenings had been feeling sluggish on the day of entering the Elliot Brown Ocean Sprint gate, and the boats behind were eating away at our advantage. Kelp, or a form of seaweed, had been seen on our active port rudder, but thought to have been pulled off and clear. But 'Skipper paranoia', a known psychological issue which can be cured through an absence of sea time, kicked in. This resulted in the waterproof HD Garmin VIRB camera being duct taped to a boat hook and lowered over the side to look at the rudder.
The film footage, which was actually rather good, proved the rudder was providing sanctuary to a kelp forest. So, armed with the boat hook, a foot hooked around the steering frame and leaning over the back of the boat, we started to deforest it. The amount on there would have seriously impacted our performance over the hours of carrying it around. We also lost a lot of time slowing the boat down to be able to remove the weed. This was the time we should have been getting the spinnaker up...
Unfortunately, there is still weed trapped between the hull and rudder join. Hopefully it may come out as we sail, but if not, it will impact our performance the rest of the race to Cape Town. But this is sailing and there is no sport so difficult with so many variables as yacht racing.
To cheer us up, the resident singing chef and dancing bear put on a performance over meal time. It was remarkable. The flat scones, not so...
With less than 900 miles to Cape Town now, I for one am looking forward to some lekker beer and biltong. The Cape Town region is actually experiencing a water shortage. Their reservoirs are so low, drawing water from depths unseen before and there are water usage bans in place. Interestingly this means we have to do our bit too. We will be filling our tanks from our water makers before entering port and only drinking local beer and wine from Stellenbosch instead of wasting drinking water.
Andy
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