So I have finally got through 12 hours without getting soaked
through to the skin. The squall activity has decreased considerably over the
past few days which means dry clothes, dry hair and no clothing hanging around
the bunks.
On the down side the wind has had its moments... from no wind... to some wind - but in the wrong direction. Sometimes we get the wind we have been expecting(10 to 15 knots) but only for half an hour. All this wind change also means lots of sail changes; wind dies - windseeker up, wind shifts - windseeker poled out, wind builds - windseeker dropped and Yankee 1 hoisted.. and probably the staysail. Our muscles ache and a lack of sleep due to the heat makes the night watches hard to stay awake for. But we try to keep ourselves amused by playing games such as 'Who am I' and 'Truth, truth, lie', while keeping an eye out for wind lines, trim of sails and ships (we have had a few close encounters with large ships!) I can say my knowledge on collision regulations has increased a lot - thanks to our watch leader Derek!
Today we have been making our journey past Papua New Guinea and past Long Island- I can say I know the outline of the island very well now as I have been staring at it for the past 8 hours- constantly tacking and not making much progress to our waypoint ! But when we get that bit of wind and boat speed is back up to 7 to 8 knots it's brilliant sailing!
We are always hoping that the rest of the fleet are experiencing similar conditions, that we can gain miles back on them and say we pushed the boat as hard as we could and it was all worth it. We can only wait and find out when Matt updates us daily on position reports and its either good news or bad news- I'm hoping the next ones will all be good!
On the down side the wind has had its moments... from no wind... to some wind - but in the wrong direction. Sometimes we get the wind we have been expecting(10 to 15 knots) but only for half an hour. All this wind change also means lots of sail changes; wind dies - windseeker up, wind shifts - windseeker poled out, wind builds - windseeker dropped and Yankee 1 hoisted.. and probably the staysail. Our muscles ache and a lack of sleep due to the heat makes the night watches hard to stay awake for. But we try to keep ourselves amused by playing games such as 'Who am I' and 'Truth, truth, lie', while keeping an eye out for wind lines, trim of sails and ships (we have had a few close encounters with large ships!) I can say my knowledge on collision regulations has increased a lot - thanks to our watch leader Derek!
Today we have been making our journey past Papua New Guinea and past Long Island- I can say I know the outline of the island very well now as I have been staring at it for the past 8 hours- constantly tacking and not making much progress to our waypoint ! But when we get that bit of wind and boat speed is back up to 7 to 8 knots it's brilliant sailing!
We are always hoping that the rest of the fleet are experiencing similar conditions, that we can gain miles back on them and say we pushed the boat as hard as we could and it was all worth it. We can only wait and find out when Matt updates us daily on position reports and its either good news or bad news- I'm hoping the next ones will all be good!
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