Osaka Cup-Of Cormorants and Tactics
Update from Optimus Prime 14.4.13 at 0913hrs
Hi,
Day 17 (b) - Tuesday
Well while I was working on my last report and lamenting the fact that the fleet had gotten out from behind the Solomons without a real stop, they had one. Daniel checked yellow brick early afternoon and Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi had only progressed a mile for the morning. Now that is a bonus. Daniel must have been happy with it as well a because I got a tot of rum during my 1800 hour watch. Our first for the trip. Not bad either.
I had my first call up from the bunk when a monster hit us from out of the dark. Dan managed to pull away before anything drastic happened but we were heading south of west so we needed to reduce sail to get back on course. Luckily the number 3 jib was up so I furled that to half way in initially and then we proceeded to go straight to the second reef on the main. All fixed, so off we go again.
Day 18 – Wednesday
First light saw the breeze swing behind us a little so the jib was furled out to full size and then a little later on swapped out for the jib top. We also got both tucks out of the main and it too was at full size. Breeze now in the 15 knot range from ESE making the jib Top the prefect sail for the moment. This sail came with the boat when we bought it and so is now 5 years old. Along the foot is some signs of the outer layer of the sail breaking up in few places. Will need it for another 2500nm so hopefully it can hang in there until then.
Conditions where such early this morning that we were able to open some hatches, have a tidy up, a bit of a dry out and got a few chores done – topped up the fuel tank, adjusted the reef lines (got to them eventually Lyn), packed the kites and their lines away. A general tidy up before we hit the NE trades over the next day or so.
Lots of puffy Cumulous Nimbus towers around this afternoon and most with rain under them. Managed to dodge a few but eventually one was just too big to avoid and drowned us.
Constantly making good gains on Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi at the moment but Escapade is flying out in front of us to the point that we are going to have to work very hard from here on in if we want to catch her before they get to Osaka. Dan and I are always up for a challenge so lets see what we can do.
Crossed the Equator at 2115 and shared a champagne with King Neptune so hopefully he will keep an eye out for us as we head to Japan. We missed 160 00 E by 15 miles but figured it was close enough to our target.
Day 19 - Thursday
Breeze from the E now with lots of black clouds and rain squalls kicking around. Had a goody this morning when I got called out of my nice hot bunk (water temperature now up to 32.6 degrees) as Daniel was having trouble managing a particularly windy squall. Of course, in my own tactful way I was yelling "come away, come away" to which Daniel replied in the calm measured response he uses "I am trying, I am trying". Anyway, as I came up I noticed on the mast instruments that we were in 38 knots of breeze. That may explain his difficulty! Anyway, I got up and worked the main for him and we were able get the boat back under control. I had to stick with it for awhile as it stayed over 30 knots for a considerable period of time before slowly easing off to a more manageable low 20 knots or so.
We ran into a number of these throughout the day with 32 knots of wind in one and a couple of others up into the high 20s. As a precaution we put a tuck in the main for the night which proved to be a good call as the breeze freshened a little before midnight to 20 to 25 knots. In fact we had a great run doing 9 and 10 knots with the occasional 11 right through to dawn
It was all helping though as we continued to take miles out of the C8 and Wasabi and even overtook Spirit of Downunder.
Day 20 – Friday
Breeze is more North of East now so we put a second tuck in this morning so that we get some better height. This did the trick as we held our speed at the height needed to get us to the next waypoint at Tuuk Island. A lot of rain around though, with Daniel having to do most of his first 4 hour morning shift in the rain.
Something a little different to keep us amused today. Early into my 1000 watch I had a fly past by what I suspect is some form of Cormorant as it has a similar wing structure to the shags we have at home – torpedo shape body, black head and tail, white body with a pale blue beak and face for those that know birds. Anyway he did a few laps to size it all up I presume, before having a crack at landing on the bottom spreader of the mast. Now remember that it is blowing 20 odd knots and there is a bit of a seaway, so the mast is wobbling abut a bit. It didn't seem to phase our friend though, as he came in and did the perfect manoeuvre to complete a two point landing as easy as you like. Unfortunately for him the top of the spreader was a bit too slippery and he couldn't hang on, so he had to fly off. He must have been determined though as a bit later on he came back for another go with still no luck at being able to hold onto the spreader so had a go at parking on the top of my head. I saw him coming in and was waiting for him to come over the top and have another go at the spreader when I felt him land on me! Talk about persistent. After another couple of goes he got cunning and decided to land on the deck at the mast which again he performed with a minimum of fuss. Once there he sort of side stepped his way to the bow where there was spray going everywhere and it was very bumpy so he worked his way back to the mast and started preening him/herself the way birds do.
By now it was Daniel's watch so I left them to it and went down for a snooze. While I was sleeping apparently our friend worked his way back down the gunnel towards the cockpit and must have decided that his guts needed purging so he did…….twice (now I know it is a shag of some description), much to Daniel san's disgust. Eventually and with some effort apparently, Dan finally got rid of our passenger and cleaned up the mess. Soon after, I came up, had a bit of a chuckle at his dilemma only to see our mate doing another lap and getting ready to rejoin us. Well I wasn't having it and prepared to fend him off with the boat hook. It didn't matter though, he was moving in no matter what and just kept coming and coming. I gave him a light tap with the boat hook once to try and discourage him but he would't have it. He/she was coming aboard and In the end had more patience than I did so I let him land and take up station on the deck just above the nav table where he stayed until the next change of watch.
Now Dan has a head lamp and when he went up on deck he noticed that our friend had had another purge. Gross. Well enough is enough, he had to go. Again he wasn't going without a fight but eventually we where able to push him off the back with the boat hook where he flew off never to be seen again. I did admire his persistence and if he had just managed to keep is backside closed he could have stayed forever.
Less than 20 miles behind Wasabi and C8 now and loving life.
Day 21 - Saturday
Took out the tucks in the early hours and soon after the morning's radio sched we put up the genoa staysail – a small jib that sits back from the main jib – as the breeze had dropped to 15 to 18 knots. Still averaging over 9 knots though so not unhappy with the set up. We have been able to open a couple of hatches in the cabin whilst the breeze is like this and it makes such a difference downstairs.
For those of you that sail, you will know that it is one thing to catch a boat but something totally different for them to get passed you if you don't want them too. Well it would appear that this still holds true even when you are 200 miles apart. We have been lucky enough to make up the 3 and a half days we lost with the forestay going on us but now that we are inside 20 miles behind them, we can't seem to be able to get past. In fact they both took a bit out of us today. Still plenty of time to get passed them though with Escapade still the one to beat at this stage. And don't forget Gusto charging along behind us.
When I say we lost 3 and a half days that is obviously by my reckoning and based on my "logic" which goes something like this.
The number of hours between the forestay coming adrift and us re-entering the race at Sydney Heads was 87.75 hours
We gained 162 miles of northings and lost 142 miles of eastings.
The net gain of 20 miles would have taken 3 75 hours to complete at 5 to 6 knots of speed over the ground.
We started again in a NE so there was no advantage for either northings or eastings when we re-entered the fray
Therefore actual time lost is about 84 hours or 3 and a half days.
Again that is from our perspective and numbers are funny things, you can almost make them say anything. For now though and until a different logic is forthcoming that is what I believe to be the case.
Still in 15 to 18 knots with a full main, jib top and genoa staysail kicking us along at a healthy 9.5knot average. Goatta be happy with that. We passed the Tuuk Island Waypoint at about 5:00 am and are now heading a little higher towards the Northern Marianas Islands and on to Japan. The weather ahead looks a little unstable so we are trying to put as many miles as we can away, straight at the mark (Osaka) in the meantime.
That will have to do for now as the cabin is starting to heat up again as we have had to shut the hatches down since hardening up at Tuuk Island.
So until next time be good
TT and Dan
