CRASH BANG WALLOP, What a 24 hours!
We left Shelter Bay Marina on the Atlantic side of Panama at 7pm on the 13th May along with 8 other boats. We motored through the night until we got to a location at sea where the next race would start. Three boats were still transiting the Canal and during the night they emerged and joined us.
At 7 am we were to have a Le Mans start. This is done by one of the skippers being the starter. Ten minutes from the off, all the boats come into a line. We all have our mainsails up and the staysail and Yankee 2 sail (both foresails) hanked on but tied down on the deck. All the crew have to be at the back of the boat behind the foremost grinder and we wait for the start signal. Count down comes over the VHF radio from the lead skipper and with one minute to go engines have to be turned off. The start signal comes over the radio and the crew rush forward to their stations. Harry Schack (a journalist) and I are sweating up (hoisting) the staysail. We hammer into action and soon the sail is up. I shout "Staysail lock and load" which means that another crew member gets the staysail sheet (rope) on a winch and grinds it up tight.
We are off. For ten minutes we can only stay on the course taken from the start. Then in the dark we start to see some of our competitors' strategies unfold as they change direction.
The winds are blowing from he north east and that is the direction we need to go. So we are beating into a wind which is "on our nose". This leads to a very bumpy ride as the boat rises over waves and crashes down into the troughs. The boat is also at 45 degrees. Bang, bang bang. Getting about the boat is difficult. We have a rope across the saloon/galley and it can take a few minutes to ascend the 20 feet from one side to the other at these crazy angles.
We then go off watch to try to get a couple of hours sleep. Not easy with the noise, the leaning and trying to not fall out of the bunks.
We are up again at 12 midday and have lunch and do a handover from the other watch. We are not operating normal mother watches so meals are prepared one at a time, not the meals for the whole day. So someone has to wash up. I am asked to do this. Washing up at 45 degrees to perpendicular in a small sink whilst pumping seawater in to do this is quite a task.
Half way through, up goes the shout, "get the Yankee 2 up from the sail locker Malcolm and get on deck for a racing sail change". Folke and I heave this massive sail up through a hatchway onto the deck. Then I get up on deck to help bring one sail down and then sweat the new one up. It’s warm and sweat pours from all my body. Once done its back to 45 degree washing up. Meanwhile the banging and crashing continues.
After one night watch, 10pm ‘til 2am, we are awoken to get up and do the 6am to midday 6 hour watch. We sit upon the high side and look down the almost side of a cliff to the sea rushing by and crashing over the lower side of the boat
The wind is increasing and we put two reefs into the mainsail to reduce its size. Soon the wind is over 30 knots and we are overpowered on the foresail. "Lets go to the Yankee 3" so we heave it up from the sail locker and start to hank it on. There are 4 of us on the foredeck working on this sail. I am number 4 and we are all getting sodden by the waves crashing over the bow. Suddenly something goes wrong and part of the sail goes into the sea. This is bad and we shout for more hands. There then ensued a 30 minute battle to retrieve the sail, get it tied down and get the crew back to the back of the boat. We are all soaked to the skin, most of us in sailing shorts and sailing shirts. We crawl back to the cockpit exhausted and take stock. It was so wet that two of the guys at the front had their lifejackets go off!
The wind started to reduce a little so we were back into action, shaking the reefs out. We never did hoist the Yankee 3 and so put it into its bag and put it down below again. Just for reference I would say the sail weighs 3 or 4 hundredweight when dry and more when wet.
So that is the first 29 hours of this race. Good job this one is only over 3 days. I must sleep now. Who knows what will happen on the next watch. What I do know is that the banging and crashing will not stop me going to sleep!
We left Shelter Bay Marina on the Atlantic side of Panama at 7pm on the 13th May along with 8 other boats. We motored through the night until we got to a location at sea where the next race would start. Three boats were still transiting the Canal and during the night they emerged and joined us.
At 7 am we were to have a Le Mans start. This is done by one of the skippers being the starter. Ten minutes from the off, all the boats come into a line. We all have our mainsails up and the staysail and Yankee 2 sail (both foresails) hanked on but tied down on the deck. All the crew have to be at the back of the boat behind the foremost grinder and we wait for the start signal. Count down comes over the VHF radio from the lead skipper and with one minute to go engines have to be turned off. The start signal comes over the radio and the crew rush forward to their stations. Harry Schack (a journalist) and I are sweating up (hoisting) the staysail. We hammer into action and soon the sail is up. I shout "Staysail lock and load" which means that another crew member gets the staysail sheet (rope) on a winch and grinds it up tight.
We are off. For ten minutes we can only stay on the course taken from the start. Then in the dark we start to see some of our competitors' strategies unfold as they change direction.
The winds are blowing from he north east and that is the direction we need to go. So we are beating into a wind which is "on our nose". This leads to a very bumpy ride as the boat rises over waves and crashes down into the troughs. The boat is also at 45 degrees. Bang, bang bang. Getting about the boat is difficult. We have a rope across the saloon/galley and it can take a few minutes to ascend the 20 feet from one side to the other at these crazy angles.
We then go off watch to try to get a couple of hours sleep. Not easy with the noise, the leaning and trying to not fall out of the bunks.
We are up again at 12 midday and have lunch and do a handover from the other watch. We are not operating normal mother watches so meals are prepared one at a time, not the meals for the whole day. So someone has to wash up. I am asked to do this. Washing up at 45 degrees to perpendicular in a small sink whilst pumping seawater in to do this is quite a task.
Half way through, up goes the shout, "get the Yankee 2 up from the sail locker Malcolm and get on deck for a racing sail change". Folke and I heave this massive sail up through a hatchway onto the deck. Then I get up on deck to help bring one sail down and then sweat the new one up. It’s warm and sweat pours from all my body. Once done its back to 45 degree washing up. Meanwhile the banging and crashing continues.
After one night watch, 10pm ‘til 2am, we are awoken to get up and do the 6am to midday 6 hour watch. We sit upon the high side and look down the almost side of a cliff to the sea rushing by and crashing over the lower side of the boat
The wind is increasing and we put two reefs into the mainsail to reduce its size. Soon the wind is over 30 knots and we are overpowered on the foresail. "Lets go to the Yankee 3" so we heave it up from the sail locker and start to hank it on. There are 4 of us on the foredeck working on this sail. I am number 4 and we are all getting sodden by the waves crashing over the bow. Suddenly something goes wrong and part of the sail goes into the sea. This is bad and we shout for more hands. There then ensued a 30 minute battle to retrieve the sail, get it tied down and get the crew back to the back of the boat. We are all soaked to the skin, most of us in sailing shorts and sailing shirts. We crawl back to the cockpit exhausted and take stock. It was so wet that two of the guys at the front had their lifejackets go off!
The wind started to reduce a little so we were back into action, shaking the reefs out. We never did hoist the Yankee 3 and so put it into its bag and put it down below again. Just for reference I would say the sail weighs 3 or 4 hundredweight when dry and more when wet.
So that is the first 29 hours of this race. Good job this one is only over 3 days. I must sleep now. Who knows what will happen on the next watch. What I do know is that the banging and crashing will not stop me going to sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment