Trucial Coast, Day 6 – losing the Parasailor

Morning all! Well there were a couple of noteworthy events yesterday. We put the ship’s clocks back for the first time, so we’re now on UTC (GMT) – 1 hour. A clear sign that we are making progress westwards! We also think we’ve arrived at the Trades – not that they’re signposted or anything.But we’re in an airstream that is due to bend into a steady easterly wind and there are lots of little fluffy cumulus clouds around (there’s a song in there somewhere…) – both of which are indicative of the Trade Winds. In effect what this means is that we’ve now set our course straight for St Lucia and will be adjusting our sails as the winds bend round – it means the DTF (distance to finish) figure now has some meaning – currently it’s about 2070 miles so we should be under 2000 miles to go by the end of the day, which is another milestone of sorts.

Now I know I promised you details of how to sleep on a heeling boat, but here’s the thing….I found out last night that my patented method is useless when you’re in the downwind cabin with a parasailor flying. The acceleration from the sail is phenomenal and so you find yourself sliding around the berth and having the strangest dreams to boot! The only way to get comfortable is to wedge yourself against the downwind wall of the berth – unfortunately that position is currently occupied by the spare sails. Some rearrangement of my boudoir may be required.

The parasailor gave us a fun night – it had been pulling us along very strongly but as I came up on deck to relieve Rob on watch at 3 a.m. the wind picked up from about 10-15 knots right though to 30 knots – quite strange as there was no associated cloud or rain. Anyhow this left us very overpowered and we had a rollercoaster ride for a while, and on one occasion (Mum, stop reading now….) we broached (when the boat lays itself over pretty much on its side!). As we tried to bring things under control, the parasailor guy (rope leading to the windward edge of the sail) had had enough, and chafing from the eye in the pole caused it to give way. So we had 150 square metres of sail flapping about uncontrollably up front. But, with remarkable calmness and the minimum required amount of approved maritime curses, we were able to douse it and get it back in its bag. As far as we can tell, we’ve suffered no lasting damage from the episode, which is great news. I think we’ll aim to get another sheet (rope) onto the parasailor and fly it again, although only in light winds – ca 10 knots. Anything much more than that and we can set the boat up on her main, genoa and possibly staysail to do 6+ knots, which is perfectly acceptable.

I’ve got to get back on deck now, as Rob is kindly spelling me for a few moments on my watch to enable me to get this written. He got as little sleep of any of us last night and so keeping him out on deck in the sun too long could result in a keel hauling….

Tomorrow…..a wildlife report – don’t miss it!