pissing down
This leg will be remembered as the ultimate test of patience and
resilience, it’s been just over a week since we left Wellington, two boats
have turned around and headed back in the first big South Pacific blow
whilst we pressed on with the full knowledge that it was not going to get better any time soon. After a little break of lighter conditions when the
wind switched from South Easterly to North Easterly, we are again beating
our brains to mash in 30-35 knots of wind under triple reefed main and
staysail.
Ahead of us Cessna Citation sailing at similar speeds to us, behind
Phesheya Racing has encountered some very nasty cross seas and has been
forced to heave-to, heaving to is a school book technique to basically
stop the boat and wait for things to get better, it is surprisingly
comfortable and after all the slamming and banging all goes quiet and you
can preserve boat and materials in conditions which may otherwise be too
risky to sail in…
We are doing well on board and have adopted a 6 hours on and 6 hours off
watch system, this allows to eat, trim, email, check the weather and
perhaps watch a movie during your watch followed by a long rest in the
bunk, you don’t really get to sleep the entire time as the slamming and
banging is so loud and uncomfortable that you just drift in an out a weird
state of daydreaming. Outside it’s so wet that I’ve even given up on going
out for a piss, and when nature calls I piss in a bucket then chuck it
into the cockpit through the companion way…
We have another 12 hours before any significant improvement, as usual we
simply hope meanwhile everything holds together as we venture further and
further away from any land, we are now 1700 miles directly south of
Papeete in the French Polynesia. – Marco Nannini from the GOR.
