Lat: 46 48.86′ S
Long: 102 33.48′ W
Inst Speed: 12.7
Wind Dir: 301
Wind Speed: 24.7999
Distance last 24hr: 395.14
Distance to finish: 10289.68
a rare opportunity to dry some kit – before the rain
clear skies, before the rain came
Mohsin doing a turn on deck
Email from the boat to shore:
From: OmanTri
To: update
Subject: it’s raining
Date: 13/02/2009 05:41:04
It’s quite torrential, these last few hours have been super wet on deck,
it’s darker than the inside of your hat, and Thierry and Hooch are crouched
in the cuddy out of the rain and spray on deck. Loik and Mohsin deep into
their sleeping bags. We are sailing downwind with 3 reefs and the solent
jib, making about 13-17 kts of boatspeed and the occasional bump as we
bounce over a wave. The light can’t come soon enough, though it is still 7
hours away. This is the first night like this, and whilst we normally can’t
stand to see the voltage of the batteries drop to the point of having to
charge again ( the noise and vibration of the generator destroys the peace),
tonight the volt meter isn’t dropping nearly fast enough, we might start it
early to give it a good warm up….. It’s not too cold, and we are fairly
well protected from the elements, you just know it’s not so nice outside,
and the mood onboard is reflected in that to a degree. We are still around
1500nm from the horn, and we’d all just like to be there, and onto the next
leg – it’s been too long on the right of the picture… it’s coming, and we
shouldn’t wish our time away… but at the same time impatient to be on with
the next leg – some fresh water to sail in.
Once you are all suited up( yellow for followers of our latest fashions)
it’s quite nice to be on deck, especially to have more fresh water ( rain )
than salt water ( waves/spray) over everything – certainly washing salty
hair and faces properly is nice, and the boat gets a proper freshwater clean
too – which is good for the deck gear. Getting in and out of the yellow
suits is a bit of a challenge – especially as you try to limit the amount
of water that’s carried from outside to inside the boat, and also as you
dress or undress the amount of water from the outside surface of the suit to
your midlayers below. This happens 4 or 5 times every 3 hours, and can take
a good 10 mins to get into the suit, there is a ranking list of speed of
dressing – but it can’t be published here!
I woke up from a short sleep ( without sleeping bag- so now a bit chilled)
and from a fairly vivid dream about camping in the rain – it must have been
triggered by the rain falling on the deck above me, and only a little
disappointed at not being able to get in the car and head to the nearest
greasy spoon for a warm cup of tea, and a full English, going to have to
settle for a choc chip Clif Bar, and a cup of hot chocolate – now
perfected as 1 part milk powder to 2 parts hot choc powder… size of part
? – depends how indulgent you need it to be a heaped table spoon make a
great mix, but soon gets through the limited supplies we have – another
reason to be around the horn and heading home. I don’t miss too much from
life on land – but scrambled egg on toast would be a welcome treat on this
dark night.
Don’t read this and feel sorry for us – the cabin tempreture is still 16
degrees, and we have been lucky with the weather so far this trip, so
deserve a dark and rainy ( and yes it’s still blowing a bit ) night just to
balance things out.