DATE 17.08.11
LAT 17 53.52720
LONG 22 56.3
DTR 2720
COG 160
SOG 7
SKIPPERS BLOG
Another day in paradise onboard Gold coast Australia with a very well rested
crew enjoying some relaxing sailing and
conducting the usual maintenance on the boat such as winch servicing, chafe
prevention, and cleaning. The conditions are
such that I allow the crew to open the hatches in daylight hours go get some
airflow through the otherwise hot, humid and
occasionally smelly boat.
The topics of today’s happy hour brief were weather systems in the region,
hygiene, food, and cleanliness. The first of these
topics was what causes the ITCZ, and what to look out for. The more eyes the
better to look out for looming clouds that may
either be a sign of pleasant sailing wind, or occasionally squalls. The crew
are getting very good at calling me to ask
about certain clouds that they are concerned about. As my standing orders say
– call me if in any doubt at all. Hygiene was
another topic of conversation at the midday brief, as we approach hot sweaty
conditions, it is important for everybody to
bathe daily, quite a luxury considering in most conditions bathing is limited
to once every three days to save water. The
hot humid conditions have also resulted in fruit and veg going off quicker than
expected, so rather than wasting these
valuable sources of nutrition they are cleaned and separated at the first sign
of mould, and the fruit baked in some tasty
cakes – banana cake for desert tonight! There is also some mould growing
around the boat – something that has only happened
in just 5 days out of Madeira so the crew have been instructed to clean it
straight away before it can spread. If not done,
Gold coast could be a floating fluff ball by the time we get to Rio. For the
non seafarers amongst the readers, this may seem
hideous and you may think that Gold coast is in a rancid state, but actually it
is quite the contrary, and she is currently
one of the cleanest vessels I have sailed on, luckily the Gold coast team have
high standards as this will create a more
comfortable environment for the weeks to come.
The weather systems in this area, and the area we are passing through can be
very confused, and grib files or forecasts may
occasionally be wrong, so eyes are out and about, and I am scanning every
source of information available to me to determine
our tactics for the next few days to get us across the doldrums as fast as
possible. Nothing is more frustrating than drifting around with no wind, so I
hope I have got it
right. Wherever we go, I want to be moving. If it means sailing away from the
Rumb line for 24 hours towards wind then its
better than drifting around for 4 hours without! As predicted the wind has just
veered 40 degrees, and we are now broad reaching
with a kite in a southerly direction with 6.5 kts of boat speed. Everybody is
loving life and the best is yet to come – banana muffins are smelling pretty
tasty and are almost done. Happy days on Gold coast
Australia. BT