If you ever have the opportunity to review the ship's logs in the Nantucket Whaling museum you will have noticed the log entries all start with "Remarks of the Day" followed my somewhat minor observations. Things such as the Sun is shining, it's a clear blue sky, the wind and seas are coming out of the west, we saw a couple of birds and if lucky we spotted a whale!
Aboard Mahina Kai, it is not much different. The sun is shining , the wind and waves are out of the west we saw a couple of birds, and two whales and a pod of dolphins.
Those tracking at home via Yellow bricks might have noticed us at the end of the pack. We were the last class to start the race. We intentionally took a conservative approach to the start. Winds blowing 25-30 knots in the bay, we had a double reef in the Main. This means that about 2/3rds of our sail was not out. we also delayed our crossing of the starting line to avoid any conflicts with other boats in our class. As we were told at the captain meeting we have 600 miles to make a mistake why do it at the start. Our start was clean, only 1 minute 15 seconds after the gun. Later down the bay the wind decreseased significantly . It took us longer to shake out the reefs in the main (increasing our sail area). The wind eventually dies a few miles south of Gay head light on Martha's Vineyard. We drifted at a very slow pace along with other boats in our class.
At e beginning of the first watch, the winds picked and we waved good bye to Gay Head light. A spectacular sunset ended our first day. By start of the second watch, winds rose to 20-22 knots with 8-10 foot seas and the night watch to make excellent progress to our destination while not so gently rocking the off watch crews to sleep safely wedged in their bunks.
Our watch schedule is 2 6 hour watches during the day and 3 4 hour watches at night. The helmsman is complaining that he is off watch in 10 minutes (Because I should be on watch so this blog entry should be cut short.
It is unlikely that we wil see your comments until we reach Bermuda, but a we look forward to reading them. Please be aware that we are not allowed to receive any outside assistance for this race so please avoid comments that indicate Mahina Kai's position or the position of our fellow colleagues we are racing against.
For those with family and friends on board, everyone is in good health and good spirits. We had a minor sea sickness with the gentle rolling last night but all is well today.
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Please be kind and keep your replies short.
You sound more like a seasoned sailor than a first race sailor. I hope all your blog entries are as poetically written. I read it several times and will probably read it several more to because I feel almost as if I am at sea with you. God speed!
ReplyDeleteLoved your remarks last night and read most of them aloud at a marina gathering at a local Boston pub. We are tracking your progress (which has been considerable) and check for updates every few hours on YBT. Hope you are eating well and that someone has stepped up in the galley albeit at a 45 degree angle :) Bet the stars are spectacular at night! Looking forward to more news as the race progresses. Be safe.
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