Hi from the Big Red Bus.
I've had a great 24 hours. A kite (spinnaker, large downwind sail) has been up continuously since my last report. We have changed between the light weight "Josie" and the medium weight "Mabel". We’ve all done a couple of gybes (where you change the relation of the boat to the wind so that the wind comes from the other side and you have to reset all the sails. A tack is the head to wind version, a gybe is when the wind is coming from behind you), which involves two poles to hold the sails out and is immensely complicated. I am slowly getting to grips with the procedure.
This morning we had a very busy watch and I was in the snake pit (area where all of the working ropes are led) while we changed the spinnaker and gybed, so it was great to be up in the action. The round the worlders are remarkably relaxed and slick at it all now. Sherlyn is my watch leader and she is all over the place with a complete knowledge of the boat and its operations.
Last night we had an uneventful watch, which was great as the night before we had a wrap (spinnaker wrapped around itself and the forestay). However we managed to pull it out by three of us pulling down the leach.
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| All action as we tack |
We had the complete carpet of stars and with my limited knowledge I managed to pick out some of the constellations.
It is warming up by the hour and has been gloriously sunny, champagne sailing. We are trucking along at 8-10 knots. I think I'll be able to crack out the shorts tomorrow!
The crew interaction is happy and relaxed with lots of banter as ever.
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