getting hotter and hotter!! The temperature down below is pretty much
unbearable during the day and not much better at night. Despite the
newly installed fan blowing out hot air, sitting typing in the nav
station is something that I just haven't been able to face so not many
updates so far this leg!
Our first few days didn't go terribly well - We shredded our heavy
weight spinnaker and won't be able to get it repaired until we get to
singapore, then we broke our jockey pole, our steering wheel started
coming loose and we tore along the foot of our medium weight spinnaker.
Luckily despite the last sewing machine needle breaking, Polly and Tony
were able to to an awesome job stuck down below in the sauna for hours
hand sewing it back together!
Since then although we have to keep pushing the wheel back in while
helming to stop it squealing, we've been reassured that it will not
come off completely! We've had our spinnaker up most of the time
although often the wind is so light we struggle to make it fly
especially during the night when the wind seems to drop even more!
There has been loads to get used to on board with our new skipper but
all in all it's going ok. It's a bit hard to get used to not being
nearer the top of the leader board though, but there's still a way to
go and the race is no where near finished!
Yesterday was a trying day! One of the new things we are trialling on
board is a designated mother watch. 2 people do all the cleaning and
cooking for 24hours. It means that everything gets done and meals are
on time no matter what is happening on deck but in this heat it is like
working in a sauna all day! Can't say i was in the best of moods!
Highlight of the day -well 2 actually - was 1/ soaking everyone with
water at the end of happy hour which we also had to run and 2/ having my
first bucket shower on the 'poop' deck on the back of the boat. It was
awesome after a day spent in the galley. Sitting in my bikini on a
platform at water level on the back of the boat with a line tied around
my waist. I was even able to wash my hair (in salt water scooped up in
a jug) and shave my legs. It was unbelievable how warm the water was!
Today was a weird day. It started out as normal on watch from 8-12 but
as I went off watch we started sailing under some massive clouds.
Within the hour we were almost becalmed with small puffs of wind coming
from any angle and lots of rain! The humidity below deck was about 99%
everyone was drenched whether it be from sweat or the rain. After happy
hour aka a crew sauna in the saloon (all hatches had to be closed
because of the rain!) it was on with the bikinis etc and out into the
rain for a shower o'natural! Heading back on watch at 1600hrs it was a
wierd wardrobe combination of bikini with my waterproof shorts and light
weight foulie jacket. The rain has stopped now and the wind is back and
stronger than before! We were joined by dolpins for the 2nd time
this leg as we watched an amazing sunset.
Time for bed, hopefully it's cooled down enough to sleep. We've
rearranged our watch system timing for this leg so that we have longer
off watches during the night so we can have decent sleep when it's
cooler and shorter periods of time on deck in the heat during the day.
Night
xx
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