2 009 ATLANTIC RALLY FOR CR UISER S
DAY 7
GWYLAN: “A bit of a record day. We had a maximum wind speed of 30.6 knots at 06.00 and a new maximum speed (sog) of 12.1 knots at 18.00. Our 24hr distance of 209 miles is the best we have had so far and pushed us up to 23rd overall, which we are very pleased with.”
KATHARSIS II: “Now steering a rhumb line course for St Lucia. Experienced our fi rst spinnaker wrap. It took half an hour to sort it out. T en almost lost our beloved heavy spinnaker in a squall and have had to go goose-winged for a night.”
DAY 8
GWYLAN: “WE GYBED! Successfully with speed not dropping below 7 knots and a smart pole change. Crew is coming along nicely. For dinner it’s champagne to celebrate halfway on the miles front, steak, chips and broccoli. It was meant to be tuna carpaccio fi rst, but fi shing let us down. Later that night: 17 metres! T at’s the amount of sewing we have to do to repair the webbing tape on the Parasailor aſt er a poor hoist at night, which ended up with it, wrapped around the radar dome. Rip! Rip! It looked like a real tearing of £50 pound notes in a shower moment. James and Nicky are sewing, Lara is making bread (we have had fresh bread every day) and Tom has his nose in the engine room trying to make the generator go.”
FIZZ OF COWES: “We had a very successful day’s fi shing today. We caught two Dorado, one was a good 10lbs. T e weather continues to be favourable, with plenty of wind from the NE, so we have been keeping up our average of 7 knots. We had our usual fi ght with the cruising chute snuff er this evening, but eventually managed to get the chute back in its bag and the main and genoa up for the overnight sailing. T ere is nothing to see out here but blue skies and miles and miles of blue ocean. We are now more than 1,000 miles from land and hoping to reach the halfway point in the next 24 hrs.”
KATHARSIS II: “Set the asymmetric spinnaker today. It lasted just 4 hours before blowing out in 30 knots of wind. We have replaced it with our symmetrical spinnaker and still covered 160 miles.”
DAY 9
GWYLAN: “Just fi nished nine hours of sewing up the Parasailor in teams of three. T e chute is ready to go and we hope she will last. Generator has also been fi xed so we can make water again. Beer supplies seem to be unaff ected...”
FIZZ OF COWES: “T e cigars and champagne came out of deep stowage to celebrate the halfway point. We have also had the strongest winds so far, with steady 30 knots of breeze for most of the day, good for boat speed, but the seas have been confused and steep. We are now in the rainsquall zone, so need to be vigilant and avoid having too much sail up when one approaches.”
DAY 10
GWYLAN: “Wind completely died at 6am since when it has been a driſt . We were trying to make it south towards the St Lucia latitude but stuck in a big hole.
Despite this lack of wind we did manage to have a spectacular broach when a line squall hit us. A lot of water got into the pilot berth and James/Lara’s cabin, which means Gwylan went over to a pretty spectacular angle. All dried out now. A Lady has sneaked ahead 10nm and is in a better position 30nm to the South of us. Not a good day!”
DAY 11
GWYLAN: “Well a poor Wednesday continued into T ursday in sailing terms and I suspect it’s a bit of a light winds procession to the fi nish from here. We got stuck in a low that had come further south than we had thought, so the day’s total is only about 140nm. A Lady, 30nm to the south, has got away and Satori has caught up, so it looks as though we won’t beat either of them to the fi nish unless our wind changes a lot. Between 20.30 and 02.00 today we made 29nm. Plenty of action around us, but too much calm in the middle. T e fi shing rod, which was much derided when I purchased it in Lanzarote, has been put to good use again and we caught a 3-4kg Blue fi n tuna. With hindsight we should have headed south about 3 days ago.”
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