Day 03 – 2^nd September

I got involved in the Code 2 repairs during the night as Alex, Nigel and Debs were falling asleep at the machine. Getting 300 m sq of material through a domestic size sewing machine is quite a challenge and so it trying to thread the needle under such interesting conditions!

Passed Alderney in the morning, the last land we will see until the Canaries.

Justin & Mike

Dropped a number of places after we dropped the Code 3. However, we re-hoisted this morning, which help get us back on track.

A whale broke the surface near to the boat much to everyone’s excitement. Unfortunately, I was off watch, so missed the first sighting.

We are starting to recover places during the day and now that the repairs to Code 2 are finished we have 5^th gear back again!

Skipper’s Blog

The sewing is finished! Our sail repair team has grown in numbers. Alex Laline and Nigel Odling recruited Debbie Spicer and Chris Geary to the sewing task to give them a break and even the Skipper pitched in on a little sewing to get the job done.

They were working so hard at it that it wasn't unusual to go pass by the sewing machine and see them slumped over and asleep trying to get it done.

Great job done by all to get our medium weight spinnaker back together.

Fortunately the weather has been very much on our side and everyone is settling in nicely to their jobs and the routines on board. For dinner last night we had a sailor's version of shepherd's pie. Mince, corn, peas and gravy in the bottom of the bowl and a nice big spoonful of mash on top.

Very yummy!

Doug

The occasional dolphin has been spotted but not much for wildlife yet other than at watch change seeing all the unusual creatures climb out of their bunks and don their gear! Speaking of the team, they are doing fantastic.

We got the lightweight spinnaker up yesterday and they were doing so well with it we attempted to carry it into the night. The helmsmen were doing a great job of driving up and down in the pressure and calling their helm adjustments to the trimmers and the trimmers and grinders were doing a wonderful job of keeping the kite full. As the wind increased, it became apparent that we were going to have to take the kite down. It's always tricky taking down a big spinnaker at night. It's very hard to see and as the breeze was up it was a bit noisy on deck. We rehearsed the roles and steps in the take down and then went for it.

Then Tony Truong blew the tack line. Chris Geary managed the spinnaker sheets. Mark McCauley and Hal Stokes ground in the clew. John Randall, Han Kim and Nigel Odling gathered up the sail through the letterbox for the douse and Elaine Hargreaves managed the halyard down all while Mark Stevenson was driving us deep downwind. Great job done by all and the kite came down flawlessly.....It took lots of effort but flawlessly never the less!

Crew Blog

Today we enjoyed the sun and warmth of a high pressure system. Which helped the crew's appetite
increase, unfortunately this also means there is a direct correlation of less wind and reduced forward progress towards our destination. After a great job of the crew to peel back into the pack as you might have noticed on the race tracker the wind stalled just off the coast of France. 

Quite a lovely place to float around. This gave us a chance to play around with sail trim, hoisting our Windseeker and trying to hold ground as the tide turned and we actually went slightly backwards, apparently the Queen was not ready for us to depart her waters just yet...We all know this will be the norm...wind, lots of wind, we feed the fish...wind diminishes and we play with sails. Repeat.

Powdered Milk vs. Protein Mix...humm, do you know the difference between two white powders? Well not when you mix them...they both look the same. The big difference comes when our Mothers, Doug and Justin, accidentally mixed Hal's protein powder thinking it was powdered milk. Luckily their keen sense prevented any spiced up drinks. On the subject of Mothers...lets get to the great meals today...

Breakfast: Cheesy Eggs...fantastic. Lunch: Amazing. Dinner...Shephard’s Pie! We also understand that Doug added to all the meals some of his secret special special secret Doug spice..the crew loved it...

Kitemare repair enters its final stages...so the count on that folks would be an astounding zillion hours of repair for a five minute hoist debacle. Never underestimate the meanness of a kite...that being said we are nicely clipping along right now with one of our other kites...this is the first night we've enjoyed as we move through the Bay of Biscay not seeing land...we're entering further south and into the Atlantic Ocean. Oh I have to give a shout out to the cute little dolphins of course...the crew love them...thanks for providing them mother nature.

Lastly, we have our first BIRTHDAY! Craig, Happy Birthday Mate! The crew appreciates your ability to keep us all on course and to helm the boat as fast as she'll go!