ARC Day 3

ARC Leg1 281107 1200
Positions
174 24.28N 23.19W 00:00




"I am not so proud of this one." Louis eyed the mahi mahi he had reeled in from the fishing pole mounted to the aft deck. Granted, it was half the size of the beast he hauled in last week, but it was large enough to afford five portions at dinner time. As soon as the reel had started singing, Mark had the boat hove-to. Louis hauled in the 100 meters of line in quick fashion. Once in the net, it was only moments later that Barry had the fish cleaned and in the refrigerator. Such agility and grace has not been seen at anytime since then.



As the afternoon wore on yesterday, the winds got tricky again. The sails would puff to life, then deflate completely, and snap full again. Three times, at least, the gennaker sail did this and got momentarily hung-up on the large, round radar which is mounted to the mast. Each time this happened, one of us would make a slight course adjustment, and the sail would free itself and go back into its natural position. The mood was light as we sang The Irish Rover and made jokes about each other's countries. The gennaker flopped behind the radar again. The course adjustment was again made, but the sail remained stuck. By the time it freed itself, it was too late. It snapped back into place, but then immediately made a terrible tearing sound as we watched our second and last gennaker form a horizontal tear all the way across. After Louis and I wrestled the remnants to the deck and stuffed it into a bag to stow it away, we all sat quietly. Mark was philosophical. "These things happen," was all he said.
The loss of the gennaker sail was not catastrophic for us, though it may well slow us down a bit. We still have two sails aloft and hope they last the journey. It was more of a sobering event that reminds us how quickly things can go awry at sea. I now know exactly what it means to have something "take the wind out of your sails".
Overnight, the wind died down again and we maintained a more westerly course for the sake of comfort while the crew slept. When I went to the bridge to take the wheel for my 03:30 watch, Louis pointed out a couple of boats on the far horizon and said it would be quite a boring shift. I made myself busy by tidying the ropes and singing to myself as I watched the two boats slip out of view. The moon was covered by clouds and the night got darker.
At 05:05 I noted a green light far off our port side and back a bit. It was so far off that the light was fuzzy as it mingled with the seascape. Ten minutes later, the green light was a bit brighter, indicating that the boat was drawing closer and on a slightly more northerly course. I mused over how long it would take for our boats to intersect. At 05:30, I saw a red light beside the green light. This meant that the boat was now facing us. I thumped three times with my foot to wake the captain. This is our signal that he is needed. My thumping was too quiet, so I thumped again. The boat was now clearly drawing closer. I hopped down the steps and into the main cabin.
"MARK."
"HUHWHA," came the reply.
"There is a boat approaching. It's coming from ..."
"I see it," he said as he sat up looking out the window.
In the time it took to get back up to the wheel, the boat had come to within 30 meters of us. It was a beautiful large yacht with two masts running alongside us. They probably wanted to see our ARC number. Five minutes later, their crew grew tired of toying with us and pulled away, crossing our bow and heading northwest.
Tom and Louis just laughed when I told them about it later. "Ya, that's ok," Louis said, "terrorize the night shift ... it's fun. I would do the same thing."




We are now tacking southerly again as the wind is more cooperative. Our chart thus far is almost exactly the same path as last year's ARC trek. I'll be home as soon as I can, Ellen. Our estimated time of arrival into St. Lucia is the 12th of December, but don't write it in stone. Sails rip. "These things happen"."

bye from the violently insane crew aboard Maverick Dream...but a last aside in Dutch:
De stemming is uitstekend ondanks het verlies van de 2de gennaker. Op dit moment zitten Barry en Keith boven en Louis en Mark in de salon een film te bekijken.
De wind de afgelopen nacht was matig waardoor we wat aan afstand hebben ingeboet. Nu proberen we dat weer goed te maken. Heel belangrijke momenten zijn wanneer de lijn van de hengel vanzelf begint te lopen dan zit er een vis aan. Iedereen gaat dan rennen de een pakt de hengel een ander het net en de rest gaat de boot langzamer laten varen. Zo even zaten er 2 vissen van 50 cm aan de lijn die ze beiden hebben teruggegooid. Prachtige vissen maar niet groot genoeg. Kleine die dingen maken de dag zo nog leuker. Gisteren had Louis nog een vis die we als lunch gebruikt hebben. Overheerlijk! De meer technische dingen schrijft Keith in het log.
Till tomorrow.