Enough Already!
Day 5, November 19, 2009
29 07.0 N latitude 64 35.5W longitude
Hello Everybody,
Enough! Enough one pot meals, enough salty drippy foul weather gear, enough sweat soaked clothing underneath, enough slamming doors and cupboard doors as they come loose from their catches, enough water bottles rolling across the deck, enough bracing oneself to stand, enough grabbing for handholds with every step, enough only going on deck when on watch because there is so much spray. We want showers! We want to sit down to eat together on deck, not huddled under the dodger; we want our auto pilots back; we want our living space to dry out; we want to put our clothes on without grabbing something to stay upright. Now that you are in tune with the mood of the crew, I’ll tell you why we feel that way.
Ever since we crossed the Gulf Stream and began sailing the wind has increased steadily up to about 30-35 knots, with appropriately large accompanying seas. Plenty of spray and even waves have been hitting the crew on watch. Each day the weather prognosticators encourage us to think that the winds will lighten “soon” in “3 more degrees” at “30 degrees N”, and we look forward to that. And every day they predict just one more day. This is about the 3rd day (feels like a week) and everyone is getting tired of this weather. Enough already. We’re really ready for sunshine and for calmer winds and seas so we can all shower, so we can dry out our clothes and so we can sit in the cockpit and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately today we had too much sail up when the wind hit 36 knots and we broached, sending things below flying and drenching the cockpit. Both autopilot remote jacks got wet, and with the big seas and spray we can’t take them apart and dry them out. Until then both autopilots are out of commission. So while we’re waiting for sunshine and less wind we are hand steering. (That is, the watch crew is hand steering. I’m making one pot meals.) The mouse and keyboard on the navigation computer went flying off the desk as well, so they are now tied and velcroed down, respectively. We’re just frustrated, cooped up and looking forward to real Caribbean weather.
We did have some fun today. Chris, Leo, Peter & Kim all managed to watch some or all of a DVD about treasure hunting in the Bahamas. Earlier everyone had threatened to get on the back deck and take a shower, but only Leo actually did. He was all cleaned up, dried off, and climbing back into the steering cockpit when a big wave hurled salt spray all over him. He had to go back and rinse off again. Kim made the sensible decision and showered in the head. At least two of us smelled good.
At dinnertime I noticed an AIS contact about 8 miles away that I was then able to locate on radar. It was the yacht First Light, 102′ long, heading to Antigua. It caught my attention because it was moving erratically at only 1 or 2 knots. We called them on the VHF radio to ask if they were all right. They reported hydraulic steering problems, but thought they had them under control. We had all been concerned initially (until the boat’s name was revealed) that it might have been an overdue sailing yacht heading to Bermuda from Nova Scotia.
We did get some photos of the Sargasso weed on the deck and rail, but we haven’t gotten it downloaded yet. We’ll keep trying to get a photo on the blog.
All the best from the crew of Avalanche, who have had enough already and are looking forward to sunshine and showers!
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