A stitch in time…

Yesterday was quite frustrating for many in the fleet. Light airs are normally a godsend for light displacement boats like Dinah, as she takes less breeze to get moving than some of her competitors. That said it does take a lot of concentration to make the smallest distance, and out here the sea state doesn’t always correspond with the current conditions. There was one point yesterday where the boat was sitting upright with no breeze but was being knocked about by waves taken straight out of the Guinness ad. Each wave would knock any air out of the sails and make the most horrific slamming noise as the boat crashed through it.

During the night we were hit with an unforecasted strong breeze. Being set up for light airs, and physically tired after a day of concentration, it was a very tough night. Changing sails on the fordeck as it crashes through the afforementioned giant waves in the middle of a black night is not fun.

Dinah is also now inside the limit of known ice, so I need to be a little extra vigilant as I don’t have any electronics to spot icebergs. The
International Ice Patrol (every time I say that I think of Thunderbirds) did some recce flights earlier in the week so we have a fair idea where the big bergs are, but it’s still unnerving, as well as bloody freezing cold!

During all the sail changes I happened to notice some small issues with one of the sails, as well as one of the fitttings on the foredeck. A few hours stitching later and everything is good as new, but I’m a bit annoyed not to have noticed them earlier to be honest. Must do more preventative maintenance!

I did an interview with Tom McSweeney from Seascapes yesterday which went out from the Volvo Ocean Race Village last night. You can download it by podcast if you’re interested. I believe an interview I did for RTE news before the start of the race has also been put up on uTube and apparently is fairly easy to find using OSTAR as a keyword.

After a long day and night we have beautiful stable conditions this morning so I have been catching up on sleep, and making a list of preventative maintenance jobs I must get through every few days with no excuses. Lesson learned! I can’t afford to lose any more miles in this race due to problems that could have been prevented, so that’s a big focus right now in making sure the boat and myself are fully ready for the next big breeze in the coming days.

I’m waiting for a forecast windshift before I have my next nap, which will probably bring the dreaded fog with it. Great! Freezing fog, 99% humidity, icebergs, whales and Russian trawlers. Pure OSTAR!

Dinah out.