Monday, 14 August 2006
Day 8 - a whole week at sea
Well, what a weekend. Puma and Jaguar continue to battle it out between themselves and there is still only 9 miles between them this morning at 0800 hrs (BST). The war of attrition continues as yet another yacht (Alice 2) retires making just 19 out of the original 28 still standing. The wind has been continuously on the nose for the last 5 days now and I know that both teams are hoping for a better wind direction soon so that they can get the spinnakers up and get some good downwind sailing in. With the spinnakers up, the speed of the yachts will increase and also their estimated time of arrival back here in the Solent.
Morale seems to be very high on both yachts with lots of laughter, banter and joviality. Jaguar called in late last night to say that 1 watch had managed to shower on deck when the rains came, but the other watch were asleep so half the yacht smells good and the other half…..well, I’ll leave that to your imagination. There is no running water on either yacht. We have fitted a Spectra water maker on both yachts as there was just not enough room to carry all the water necessary for this race from the start. The water makers are working well but only when the yacht is on starboard tack, so making water is a little bit of a lottery. The normal consumption onboard (or allowance) of water per person per day is between 3 and 4 litres. This is for everything; washing, drinking, cooking, hot drinks etc. The yachts each have 2 fitted flexible water tanks as well as numerous jerry cans, one which is permanently sealed as emergency water to be used if any of the onboard water should get contaminated or the water-maker stop working.
The menu over the weekend included Chilli con Carne on Saturday evening, Beef in Beer with mash last night and tonight it is Savoury Mince, another dehydrated delicacy! When choosing the menu, we looked at various types of meals available, and always had to think of weight, space, cost and most importantly, taste! The dehydrated meals that have been supplied are the same which are used on Round the World yacht races. Philippe and I swore we would never again eat this type of food but needs must, and nowadays they are very good, and also so long as you add some herbs and spices as well as re-hydrating the meat mixes very well, are actually not too bad. Both yachts are baking brad and also baking scones and flapjacks to enhance their menu. The 12 volt fridges onboard can be converted to warming boxes for proving the bread before they put the bread dough in the oven. There is nothing better on board a yacht than the smell of fresh baked bread. Again, taking enough long-life bread for 9 people for 15 days onboard a yacht was impossible due to space so bread mix is a great way of making sure that the diet stays interesting and also varied.
In the overall standings in the race, Magnum has increased her lead again to 70 miles ahead of Puma and the second placed yacht in class, Mostly Harmless is 14 miles ahead. Sidney continues to watch the transom of Jaguar and this morning is only 5.5 miles behind, so it is all very close in the middle of the pack. Mostly Harmless has taken another hike to the north west overnight, sailing away from the rhumb-line in order to get a better sailing angle and hopefully quicker boat speeds.
Morale seems to be very high on both yachts with lots of laughter, banter and joviality. Jaguar called in late last night to say that 1 watch had managed to shower on deck when the rains came, but the other watch were asleep so half the yacht smells good and the other half…..well, I’ll leave that to your imagination. There is no running water on either yacht. We have fitted a Spectra water maker on both yachts as there was just not enough room to carry all the water necessary for this race from the start. The water makers are working well but only when the yacht is on starboard tack, so making water is a little bit of a lottery. The normal consumption onboard (or allowance) of water per person per day is between 3 and 4 litres. This is for everything; washing, drinking, cooking, hot drinks etc. The yachts each have 2 fitted flexible water tanks as well as numerous jerry cans, one which is permanently sealed as emergency water to be used if any of the onboard water should get contaminated or the water-maker stop working.
The menu over the weekend included Chilli con Carne on Saturday evening, Beef in Beer with mash last night and tonight it is Savoury Mince, another dehydrated delicacy! When choosing the menu, we looked at various types of meals available, and always had to think of weight, space, cost and most importantly, taste! The dehydrated meals that have been supplied are the same which are used on Round the World yacht races. Philippe and I swore we would never again eat this type of food but needs must, and nowadays they are very good, and also so long as you add some herbs and spices as well as re-hydrating the meat mixes very well, are actually not too bad. Both yachts are baking brad and also baking scones and flapjacks to enhance their menu. The 12 volt fridges onboard can be converted to warming boxes for proving the bread before they put the bread dough in the oven. There is nothing better on board a yacht than the smell of fresh baked bread. Again, taking enough long-life bread for 9 people for 15 days onboard a yacht was impossible due to space so bread mix is a great way of making sure that the diet stays interesting and also varied.
In the overall standings in the race, Magnum has increased her lead again to 70 miles ahead of Puma and the second placed yacht in class, Mostly Harmless is 14 miles ahead. Sidney continues to watch the transom of Jaguar and this morning is only 5.5 miles behind, so it is all very close in the middle of the pack. Mostly Harmless has taken another hike to the north west overnight, sailing away from the rhumb-line in order to get a better sailing angle and hopefully quicker boat speeds.
posted by Sailing Logic at 12:03 PM
