Day 46… The wind died and to be honest it was a relief. It was quite pleasant leisurely moving through the water with our only remaining engine. That was until we did our usual checks on the boat, and now with calm weather and the sails down we could do a proper check. This was when we found that one of our port side shrouds was damaged. At first, we stared at it in disbelief as the ex captain had claimed to have had them all checked over in New Zealand. The rigger there had apparently said it was ‘perfect’.
“Well, it certainly isn't perfect now!” I muttered
We sent one of the crew up the mast to get a closer look and take some photos. (As you can see in the photo’s it was not good.) If a shroud on a boat looks like, or even remotely similar to this you might as well pour what ever money you have into the ocean, and kiss goodbye to anymore safe sailing. You will keep pouring until all your money is gone, your wife’s bank account and your children's college funds are all empty too! We were crest fallen.
So, there we had it! No more sailing and with another 1200 odd miles to go.
Fan-fu**ing-tastic!
“Oh well,” we thought, “life moves on, there’s no wind now anyway, and none predicted for the foreseeable future. Full speed ahead! Giddy-up Boat!”
With a mere 500 miles to go we suddenly noticed and thought excitedly “there’s a beautiful thunder storm over there… and there… and there too…. oh AND over there too… Oh..”
Thunder and lightening is not really a big deal for me, but for some on the boat, it was and they were terrified of it. The waves were gradually picking up. As was the wind… WWWHHYYY!
The next thing we know there are 45 - 55 knots of wind, no sail, one engine with 3+ metre swell on our bow. Our speed you ask?… 1.5 knots. Our ETA at rate that was 27 days!
I could do nothing but giggle nervously at this. “It cant last forever, It’ll die” …
Although the wind dropped to 35-45 knots, the swell did not and it only shifted to south westerly. Now here I am, 3 days after our 55 knots of wind, Still, going a torturing 4knots, with only 153 miles to go and swell on beam of 3 - 4 m.
The tension on the boat rising, the ex-captains departure nearing, our excitement growing and the boredom of the crew expanding with their collection of books decreasing.
Could these last 24 hours go any slower? ? ? ?
