CAPT BLOG

CAPT. BLOG

SAE DATE: 20 JULY 07

TO GO: 897!!!!

holy crap. what a day there is so much to tell everyone, keep up, im going to do this fast and dirty.

after blog yesterday the seas got super disorganized!!! it was so hard to steer, but we were making good time so we did not want to take the spin down, we made the necessary adjustments to keep moving forward, and we pressed on. we celebrated our half way party last night at dinner. we were all really tired and a little on edge over the seas, but we had fun anyways. Nancy and Donna made lime crusted chili chicken with a mango glaze, atop black bean and tortilla rice. it was unreal!!! after we got some food in our belly's we popped the bubbly and made a few toasts. the funniest part of the evening was when Caroline threw the the champagne bottle over her shoulder and managed to hit the boom, we think it was good luck like another blessing. after the festivities everyone piled it to their bunks to think about sleeping but not really get any. the night watch was uneventful thank God.

ok here we go.

note: spinnakers are heavy. when i say sox i mean sock. sox are made to help you not make life harder.

at 0600 this morning, it was time to put another jibe in, i was on the foredeck, bill on the pole spin gear, Donna on the helm, Nancy, Christin, and Caroline on the sheets and stuff. that was the best quickest jibe so far.

0930 Bill and i are on watch together, the wind has switched and pushed us to an unfavorable course, so we did another jibe. i called down below, " anyone awake?" Nancy piped up, she came on deck. i got on the fore deck, Nancy on the wheel, Bill on all the lines, i think we jibed with no problems. by the time we cleaned up the cockpit the wind had died down, so it was time to change out to a lighter spin. so i went down below to get the 3/4, i hauled it on deck, at this point Caroline was in the cockpit to help. everyone else in the same positions. we did the swap like pros. i took the big boy down below and stowed it.

1300 due to very light wind we managed to wrap the spin around the head stay, lucky us!! Nancy on the wheel, Bill and i got up on to the foredeck, Christin on the sheets at first. ok i know there are going to be people sitting in front of their computers reading this thinking, " oh they should do this" or " you never do it like that", well you people can take a look around, we're actually out here doing it. Bill and i tied short lines to the clews of the sail, while Bill held one i would take the other and unwrap it, as you could image, the more of the sail we got untangled the more it would fill up with wind, so toward the last few wraps the sail was really loaded, Bill and i were looking at each other thinking we might not be able to handle much more. at some point Nancy came up to the foredeck to help, she got on to the halyard and started lowering it. we thought we were home free, think again. i don't know what happened but we had 10 more minutes of wrestling left till we finally got it to the deck. keep in mind we raised this thing in a sox, but did not take back down in the sox. by some miracle Nancy was the only one to get hurt, she cut the tip of her big toe. pretty minor, the whole ordeal took about 45 min. and at that time everyone was on deck.

i took that spin down below, to repack later. i grabbed the 1.5 took it up. meanwhile the crew had worked together to get the deck and cockpit ready to host more sail and keep moving. before we put another spin up we decided to put a fence up, that prevents the spin from wrapping around the head stay. we did that with only little headache. we hoisted the 1.5 up, and im sure there was some mess up but i don't remember what. i would bet money that it was the sox.

at that point i think Bill and i felt pretty beat up, but everyone else seemed good. Caroline, Bill and i went down below to repack the 3/4 spin back in the sox. you might be thinking, oh i put socks on all the time, its easy!!!, well this is the same concept, but far more difficult. not difficult as in, lets think really hard about it, its just physically straining, not to mention its about 98' down below. i don't know if you can tell yet but i am a little bitter toward the sox. so i haul it back on deck we raise it on a spare halyard. this is just to get the internal hauling lines of the sox organized. we got it up, then took it back down, while shoving it in to the bag. one more time i drag that spin back down below and stow it away again.

we decided after all that hard work that we really needed to cut lose, Caroline went up forward and got the hose out, since Bill was down below resting in his bunk the girls and i took showers, we helped each other scrub one another's body's down, all of that bare glistening skin and soap suds, it was so hard to keep the boat on course. did i get your attention??? that's not really how it went down, we had to get the hose out to scrub the blood off the deck, after that we were all so wet the only logical thing was to take a shower. that's how it really went down.

once i got some fresh clothes on, i laid down and actually took a nap, i woke up to a hell of a roll-a-coaster ride. at some point while i was sleeping the Caroline and Donna took the main down, the boat speed increased by 2.5 knots. so when i woke up my Mom was at the helm on watch with Christin, MOm was steering through a squall, and doing a very good job. since there was no main the boat was all over the place. it was pretty rough to cook, so we snacked for dinner. the next squall hit and it was just to much, the boat rounded up like it was stuck in a whirl pool, the g forces were so powerful down below the crew and i were pinned to the hull, not really, but it was not easy to get our bearings, we got in our usual positions, Mom on the helm, Caroline and Christin in the cock pit, i went on deck and had Nancy come up to help me. we got the sox lines all ready then we began the take down, with a little muscle it came down like a charm, what are the odds??

since it looked like it was going to be a very squallie night, we put the main back and put a head sail out, once the weather starts working with us we will put a kite back up, but for now we are making good way on a good course.

i know i am missing a few things but i am late for watch

CAPT. LG out