Oops! Missed blog entry - July 11th

(Sorry -- missed posting this blog entry and don't know how to insert in sequence!)


Sunday, July11/10 0500 hours:

Dawn watch, the sky is just getting light…the best part of the day. No, the best part is knowing that in one hour, I am off watch and have 6 hours to sleep!

The countdown to the finish has begun. We are less than 800 nm from Maui now, still fighting the rolling 2 metre waves that have knocked us around for the entire voyage. We are just socks in the washing machine…still…Our characteristic staggering gait across the cabin has been named “The Turicum Twostep”. Hale said it best, when he said “I’m done with trying not to fall down, unless it’s from my barstool at the yacht club!”

Yesterday seemed like Friday the 13th: everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Just little thngs like broken shackles, chafed lines, out of control spinnakers, but so many of them that it took both watch crews from 0600 to 1130 to sort them all out. Weird. Impressive, though, is the way the 8 very different people on the crew have brought together their various skills and have formed a strong team.

Fast forward to 1330: Had first shower of trip!! Cold water, but clean hair is worth it.

Have been seeing flying fish since yesterday….and the weather is finally warm, with that soft hint of the tropics in the air. Aaahh, finally we get to ditch the fleece and foulies! We had our halfway party last night, complete with 4 course meal and wine, courtesy of Don. Never, have I had such a sumptious meal at sea. Thanks Don!

Well, better get back up on deck, the sun awaits!

Naomi
SV Turicum


July 11, 2010

Last night was our somewhat belated mid-point dinner hosted by Don. Don’s entire family contributed to the feast of Gazpacho, crab cakes in a roasted red pepper aioli and salmon on a bed of wild rice. Desert was a sherbet, (as in frozen!) roll and your choice of red or white wine. This was truly a grand offering for the occasion. It was especially welcome after such a difficult day.

All of our thoughts are beginning to now focus on the next few days that are the end game to this race. Boats have committed to courses based on their interpretation of the best information available to them and the navigators’ inclinations as to what the wind may do over the next few days. Many boats are pursuing a course selection similar to ours, some have stayed well east expecting the trades to fill in and one boat has already committed to a far westerly course. We shall see.

The winds are now north easterly, which are the hallmark of the trade winds in the northern hemisphere. The seawater is now tepid and is still an array of brilliant blues. Flying fish have become more abundant and the albatrosses skim the waves in search of their prey. Although I had read about the Pacific Gyre, an area roughly the size of Texas where the currents conspire to collect huge amounts of plastic debris fatal to sea life and sea birds, our course did not take us through this human induced tragedy. The ocean we have been travelling through is pristine. I feel privileged to experience its grandeur and hope that succeeding generations will have these beautiful waters and more as their legacy.

One thing that has struck me over the past 11 days is how different the sea state can be after only a four hour period off watch. In particular, a certain pattern of waves that held over the period of an entire watch can be rearranged both in terms of period and direction, without any apparent influence coming to bear on them. This is but one demonstration of the complex interrelations that make up global weather patterns.

I have five hours left on watch on this warm and sunny Sunday morning. At present the sails and course are set for the next several hours although one never knows when there may be a call to change sail or to gybe. So, it is back up to the cockpit to take it all in, to think about what we are doing, and to let my imagination take me where it will.

Les on Turicum