Leg 1: London to Rio - Week 3

Leg 1, Week 3: September 14th - September 21st

Well I can't seem to find my gopro (for those that know me well, it is currently lost, but I'm sure it is hiding on the boat somewhere) so missing most of my photos.  Will have to add more in later.  Posting everything else for now while I still have wifi! Enjoy...

Day 15: Monday, September 14, 2015

Now that we are only sailing with the yankee up instead of the spinnaker, there isn't as much to do up on deck.  With the spinnaker, one person has to helm, one person trimming, and one to two people on the grinder.  With the yankee, you basically just need the helm and check the trimming of the sails.  The days are starting to get hotter and more humid.  So it is hard to stay up on deck not doing much and trying to find little bits of shade provided by the mast or the helm.  Below deck is even worse.  The heat cannot escape and trying to sleep at any point of the day is a struggle since it is so hot.  The bunk I was assigned is an inside coffin bunk.  Basically, it is blocked from getting any fresh air from the small hatches we have in the bunk corridor and it gets warmed by the heat produced by the generator.  My new way of sleeping involves lifting my mattress up against the wall so I am just laying on the canvas thin layer, and I am half in my bunk and half laying out of it to try and get any fresh air passing through the area.  I still end up in a pool of sweat with my feeble attempts to stay cool.  During the day, I just nap up on deck once the sun sets enough for the sails to start providing some shade or read a book up on deck.  Currently reading "Unbroken" compliments of David Wang.  So far a great read! 

When we go up for our night watch we are damp with sweat and then stay clammy in the moist, humid air up on deck.  It is still warm, but the temperature cools off significantly.  I tend to get cold up on deck still when the breeze hits my clothes that have yet to dry completely.  Although the day and night conditions are not ideal, I think these conditions will still be a hundred percent better than when I am freezing my ass off on the other legs!

Day 16: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - Happy tax filing day!

The other boats are slowly starting to catch up with us.  We luckily started with a good 200 mile lead and are hoping to stay in front of the end lot long enough for the wind to shift to where our current sail plan will be the favorable one going upwind.  We'll see how long we can hold out and if the next set of islands shakes up the fleet again.

Another day of not doing much during the watch today and no one really gets my excitement of it being 9/15 today!  We've been practicing our knots onboard and I decided to make myself a bracelet with the new knot knowledge I learned!  Exciting stuff!  Ahhh!  Just as I was writing this, another set of whales passed by!  These two were literally right next to our boat!  We got a few quick glimpses of their backs before they were gone from view.  Still quite fun!  Ana also saw a sea turtle yesterday but I missed that one...bummer!

Day 17 - 20: Wednesday - Saturday, Sept. 16 - 19, 2015

I've missed a few days since too hot to function recently, so just going to combine what I remember from the last few days.  We finally reached the doldrums corridor so that means we are now motoring for 60 hours.  As such, not much sailing to do and just need one person on the helm making sure we are headed in the right direction still.

Classic starfish sleeping position #toohottosleepinbunk

Let's see, what has happened the last couple of days...crazy squalls, ocean swimming, and cleaning!  The doldrums are known for being very windless and warm with sudden squalls or heavy winds with rain on occasion.  As we reached the doldrums, we hit our first squall.  This was before we started motoring, so you have to be on your A game and be ready to drop the yankee and reef the main at a moments notice as the heavy wind can tear through the sails.  The first squall we hit, didn't have much wind but had lots of fresh rain!  As one would expect, it was all crew on deck bathing in the glorious fresh water!  I was on watch during the sudden squall, so I just managed to get soaked from head to toe in my clothes.  I had to go down below eventually to change since I was shivering and our doctor on board says getting a cold from being in cold weather is not a myth...who knew!  After playing in the rain for about 10 minutes, it gets chilly and old quickly, so everyone was below shortly after getting our floorboards all nice and wet!

After that we had some more proper squalls where we did drop the yankee to be safe.  But nothing too crazy has happened yet during a squall.  I heard one of the other boats were knocked over during a squall as they were going through.  These boats always right themselves, so no harm done, probably just a lot of people and things flying about below deck.

Yesterday, as we were cruising around all huddled under the boom for shade, the only shade left now that the sails are down, I asked Huw when we get to go swimming.  He replied, well we can just turn the engine off and go now.  I thought he was joking with me since we were in a race and we can't just stop the boat!  However, since we are on motor there is actually time to stop and take a break and then catch up again...sweet!  So five minutes later, we had the very lavish scramble net rigged to the back of the boat ready for us to jump in and climb back on board!  This was a much needed break from the hot sun and everyone enjoyed swimming laps around the boat or just floating next to the fender that was tossed out.  The boat is quite luminous as you go around it, so have to give it a wide berth so it doesn't drift over you as you swim around.  And we had some adventurous folks doing crazy jumps off the bow, even Chris was reliving his heyday showing off the youngsters with his perfect dives!  

After our swim, we attempted to wash up some.  One unexpectant crew mate learned she had formed a dreadlock!  I suppose that would be the result after not brushing out your braid and then going swimming in salt water.  Karri spent over an hour trying to detangle the mess but there was really no hope so she eventually had to chop bits out of it.  We are saving the chunk for Neptune so Emily can pay tribute with the hair she has already lost out at sea.  This is precisely the reason I hacked my hair off before this trip.  I was convinced I was going to get dreadlocks!

The infamous dreadlock that Karri is removing with her sailing knife!

And especially for July...I am actually getting a tan!  I probably haven't been this dark since college when I had time to lay out everyday in sun.  It is however only from my mid-thigh to my knees and only the front of my legs and then we all have crazy life jacket tans.  Lots of people with the life jacket burnt on to their back when they fall asleep in the sun and forget to put sunscreen on.  Otherwise, Lucy keeps us in check and makes sure we are all lathered up and drinking plenty of liquids!

Since the first day in the doldrums, we took it easy being lethargic and swimming, today was spent being more productive and doing a semi deep clean of the boat while we still had smooth waters.  Once we exit the doldrums, it will be upwind sailing to Rio, which means lots of beating against the waves, instead of smoother downwind sailing and also means lots of people will be getting sick again...oh joy!  After I got an extended sleep since only had to be on watch for two hours last night (amazeballs!), I was up and helping the other watch deep clean the bilges.  During the deep clean, we remove all the floor boards of the boat and send them up on deck to get a proper scrub down, then we sponge clean the bilges until they are glistening!  We had a quick lunch break then I was up on deck scrubbing the floor boards from the other half of the boat with my watch.  We also hung all the foulies out to destank and dry.  Now our boat is so fresh and so clean, clean! 

I also finally received the latest news that my new niece was born at a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces on Friday I presume!  Another girl to round out the first boy and other two girls my sister already has, this being her fourth.  She was named Evelyn Theresa.  I presume Theresa is after my grandma but not sure where Evelyn comes from.  I'm guessing we will call her Eve, very cute!  Now there is Emily, Ellie, and Eve...they will never know who's name is whose since we will undoubtedly never get it right, the same way Brett and Ben are interchangeable :)  Poor Ben though, I'm guessing he may have cried when he found out he had another sister and not a little brother!  Can't wait to meet her, so sad I have to wait until April!

Tomorrow will be sails up again and the beating begins at 9:30 AM!

Day 21: Sunday, September 20, 2015

Rain, rain, go away!  It has been raining all day today.  Guess I can't complain since it hasn't rained much since the first couple of days.  But sitting up on deck during constant rain is oh so fun!  Today was the first day we had sails up since motoring through the doldrums.  We started smashing it with 10 knots, then the wind died after 5 minutes and it was tack, tack, tack, to try and get a better position to the wind.  All in all, we didn't smash it so much after the motor turned off.  We're estimating about another 10 days until we make it to Rio...

Some random photos: