I'm beginning to think Mission Performance is cursed in terms of flying kites! After a week long repair on 'Thor' in Albany, it was decided that he should be flown for the first time on Sunday, conditions were not bad nothing he couldn't handle and every one was clear on how he was going to be hoisted. Everything went fine and he was flying for about 10 minutes until he flogged and collapsed, then completely ripped across the head, at this point an 'all hands on deck' was called and as I was off watch I made my way up on deck to hear Matt shouting at me not to come up!!! I guessed the worst and sure enough I saw the main part of the kite trailing in the water and the head flying like a flag at the top of the mast! Retrieving him went smoothly as usual (we are now considering that we should set up a kite retrieval business due to the amount of times we have had to pull them out of the water) I assessed him downstairs and surprisingly the majority of our repair in Albany had held, it was a new tear across him! So as we have no sewing machine it looks like I will be spending few days in Sydney repairing him again.
Our current position is 6th place and we are getting some great speeds even though we cant fly 'Thor'. Helming has been brilliant and with some big waves we can still get over 20 knot surfs. Tonight we will be passing just south of Tasmania, then it's north to Sydney where the fleet will have to decide whether to go east or west of the East Australian Current depending on the wind angle, as sailing into the current will greatly reduce speeds.
Our current position is 6th place and we are getting some great speeds even though we cant fly 'Thor'. Helming has been brilliant and with some big waves we can still get over 20 knot surfs. Tonight we will be passing just south of Tasmania, then it's north to Sydney where the fleet will have to decide whether to go east or west of the East Australian Current depending on the wind angle, as sailing into the current will greatly reduce speeds.
I have been on mother duty today and can safely say my cake making abilities have vastly improved especially as we have no recipes and I was guessing ratios I also made sure Nutella was a key ingredient! Other news is that I am well impressed with a bruise I have on my nose and below my eye having been hit by the yankee sheet, my face went numb for a while, but I recovered. Now for a much needed 10 hour sleep (the bonus of doing mother watch!).
Sorry to hear you got beaten up by one of the yankee’s!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the sewing machine? I thought you had one on board. Anyway I hope you don’t have to spend too long on repairing ‘Thor’ again.
Your birthday reflections were interesting, a lot happens in twelve months. I guess this Christmas will be different as well, and something to look back on in years to come.
Hope you have a great stopover in Sydney, and a Very Happy Christmas to you and everyone in Team Matt.
Good luck in the Sydney Hobart, another stiff challenge. What next for you – the Fastnet?