‘ello folks,
A few wee bitesize snapshots of the last 24 hours on board:
1300 LT - Hugo
Hoisted Windseeker, Harpo gives a class of heads cleaning. If you are not familiar with boats, we're not talking about shampoo (if you've seen Harpo's haircut it makes even more sense). It's about cleaning the toilets.
1500 - Hugo
Jerome has been at the helm for three hours straight. Josh promised shots if we were to finish the sprint before Punta del Este. So far, we overtook WTC Logistics and Dare To Lead, and we have Punta del Este in sight
1700 - Hugo
Wind died, driftathon started. We have WTC Logistics, Dare To Lead and GoToBermuda in sight, as Brendan said, it's like the jets lining up to the runway in Heathrow. Glamorous right?
1800 - Josh
Came on deck to see a glassy sea and 1.2 knots of breeze just the Main and Staysail flogging, Jim W takes a deck shower and we may have forgotten to tell him, “don’t if anyone is using the heads”
1900 - Josh
A whopping 2.5 knots of breeze “quick! All crew get ready for a Windseeker hoist”
2100 - Josh
The fleet met a 30 mile fishing fleet/net and with encouragement from Visit Sanya, China and GoToBermuda, we crossed first (you could have cut the tension with a knife) but a really good watch with the crew following orders to a 'tee'.
trim trim trim, helm helm hem.
2200 - Josh
A super duper massive tanker 766m x 124m (no name given) goes past and can’t be hailed on the radio!
Nice moonrise! And Anne teaches me how to say louder in french = 'plus fort' (spelling, I am told, is correct?)
2330 - Josh
The odometer went from 9999 to 0000, and neither Manuel or Jacqueline were there to see this happening, they're gonna be devastated (so, in the words of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 'all bets are off')
0200- Hugo
At watch changeover had to announce the bad news to the crew:
Me - "crew, I have a bad news, Tom Hanks has coronavirus"
Jacqueline - "Oh no, I love Tom Hanks"
Me - "well, he's not dead yet"
...etc
0300 - Hugo
Tim is starting to compose a musical to the wind, like those dances of the Aborigines in Australia to make rain (I think the Brits have found the best dance already without knowing). But instead of rain we would get wind. Hurry up Tim, still 24 hours of wind hole forecasted.
0600 - Josh
Wake up groggy and irritable, but helped by being greeted with a happy crew and a good position for the gate, lucky the crew know what to do...coffee, followed by tea (now feeling better)
0700 - Josh
Plan starting to come together but Visit Sanya, China is trying its hardest to disrupt my ever improving morning.
0900 - Josh
Jim W learns that the T sign made with your hands at 90 degrees does not mean ‘time out’ but ‘tea’.
1215 - Hugo
Spotted a wandering marker buoy, signalled position to the rest of the fleet
1235 - Hugo
Started a tacking battle with Visit Sanya, wish us luck!
I hope all are well back home. Josh, Hugo and the crew of Ha(z) Long Bay, Viet Nam.
Song of the day - J.Mascis - Is it Done? (cheers Neil for this gem)