Mon 21 March
At the end of today all the crew needed a show to wash off all the coal dust. We have been working a hard day at the coal mines at least that is what it felt like compared to the last week.
Since we suffered damage to the main we have been sailing wing and wing with a second reef in the main sail and a full genoa (front sail). This is a very easy config to manage once set up. With wind speeds of 16-18 Knots we have been easily able keep up with middle of the fleet even with this reduced sail combination.
However over night the wind dropped to 10-12 Knots. With our reduced sail this really slowed us down. If we keep this pace up by the time we got to Hiva Oa there would be no prawns left on the Bar-Bee (BBQ) for us. We realised we needed to get back to work and sail with the Gennaker ( asymmetrical Spinnaker). Winds of 10-12 Knots from behind are well within my safety margin for using the Gennaker. Compared to sailing wing and wing this was like working a day at the coal mines. You need two crew that are concentrating all the time (not reading or anything else) with their eyes glued to the sail in case a wind shift or large swell pushes the sail or the boat to make the sail collapse. One crew in on the sheet line of the Gannaker and the other is on the helm. If the sail starts to collapse the crew on the sheet has to pull in the sheet line to get the sail at an angle to fill with air again. Sometimes with a big wind shift pulling on the sheet line is not sufficient to recover the sail to its normal position. This is when you need a good person on the helm to quickly steer the boat so that it is between the wind and the sail so that the sail will fill with air again and recover back to its normal position. If either of these actions are not done quickly and correctly the Gennaker can end up wrapped around the forestay. A very ugly place to be which can damage the sail and you bank account big time.
Murphy has a law regarding Gennakers. It states that when the Gennaker is watched closely at all times the Gennaker will be stable for hours at a time. It also states that if you take your eyes off it for two milliseconds to have a pee or make a drink it will collapse instantly.
The crew did a great job all day. We managed to catch up 2.5 miles on Paw Paw over the day.
Just around the time of the evening roll call between the yachts a squall developed about 3 miles from us. It was near the end of the day and close to meal time so we the lowered the Gennaker for the night and went back to a full Genoa and reefed main. Time to get out of the coal mine and relax for the night.
It is about 1:30am Galapagos time, a beautiful moon lite nigh. I am on watch and will upload todays update. The wind has shifted to the south enough so that it is time for me to jib the main across or we will heading to Alaska. Back to work for now.
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