Start of day 10 Noon on Sunday 25th May 2014.
In position 38º49'N 041º23'W COG 083(T) SOG 6kn On donk. Wind SW F4-5. 2m seas. Blanket of grey cloud everywhere, some drizzle.
Flores, Azores is 083(T) 476NM Dist Run by log in last 24 hours 147NM Distance made good towards Flores 149NM.
We have a wonderful wind for sailing on our poled genoa and the wind is forecast virtually unaltered for next 3-4 days...... so why are we on the sodden donk? It all started at half time (listening to BBC World Service) in the Real Madrid/Athletic Madrid Champions League Final, late yesterday afternoon. Me thinks, BBC World Service are just woffling again so may as well use the time to do my daily outside inspection around the yacht. I make a habit of doing this whenever conditions are good enough to do so and try to inspect as much as possible outside every day, although occasionally conditions have been known to put me off and cause postponement! Yesterday, when I stood at the bow and looked back at our fixed rigging I knew we had a problem in the making, which would need seeing to before anything else. Like all masts, our's is kept cental and supported by V shrouds from top to deck. The V shrouds are attached at the top of the mast, at each of our two spreaders and at deck-level where they are attached to our hull via chainplates. On our port side, where the 12mm wire is swaged we have 'sprung' some outer wires, which reduces it's strength. "Not what I want to see when nearest land is some 600NM away" me thinks to myself. Closer inspection using the binns (binoculars, Jennifer) confirms my initial view. Taking a close look at the other side it's not possible to know if that's OK without going up the mast. At first I thought it might look suspect but another inspection using the bins is inconclusive. The port side looks decidedly say and in need of more than therapy treatment!!!
I informed Annie & Mike and we immediately put sail away and started-up the donk. I've also fastened our two spinnaker halyards to serve as additional shroud supports and done same with our pole-lift halyard to give even more support to our port-side V1 shroud. This means we've taken all unnecessary loading off our V1 shrouds and can safely proceed ............... on the sodden donk in great sailing winds. Wonderful!!!! At first I said we would proceed directly to Horta. In reflection, however, its a Bank Holiday tomorrow so my email to DYL is unlikely to get a response until Monday morning and it will undoubtably take longer to get parts sorted so we have resumed heading towards Flores, which we pass anyway if going direct to Horta. We can at least enjoy a rest and visit Flores as originally planned. We have more than enough fuel on board. We carry some 1,300 litres diesel and had barely used any on donk since departing Bermuda, having only used fuel mostly running generator from time to time. It's certainly the pitzzz because we specifically had our fixed rigging meticulously checked and 'tuned' before departing Antigua (when the riggers A&A Rigging found damage/fault on our stbd-side 14mm D1 shroud, replacing D1's both sides before we departed). With a 'clean bill of health' on our fixed rigging we now have a problem and are running on sodden donk! Whilst I am annoyed, I am neither depressed or disheartened because on an ocean passage across the Atlantic shit will happen from time to time and it's how we can deal with it that counts. Safety first, please. If we did not have the fuel I would have to rig-up additional supports and sail even more conservately with minimum load on our port shrouds. We have the fuel and the donk is good so I don't need to do more. I have emailed DYL and will wait their response, with the expectation we can get the job done properly when we visit Horta. I am annoyed because we selected the Discovery 55 because it is a very strong sailing yacht and to our immense liking. Maybe it takes an ocean passage to show up the weakest links .......... but the Discovery 55 is promoted and sold as a World Class ocean sailing yacht? Sue says "We'll be sticking to the Med from now on!" Guess what happened next? First squiddy nearly got gobbled up. Squiddy's attacker got away. Dam .... another nearly has-been! Minutes later squiddy's at it again and this time we landed a nice lookin' tuna. Yippee fresh tuna will be on the menu soon. Not taking any chances on the bathing steps I firstly shot it with my pre-Bermuda temporary confiscated spear gun. That put a big hole in it, just behind it's gills but when I tried to lift it out the water the spear came out! Dam & blast for the second time. Fortunately the hook was in good and propper so I still had it attached. I asked Mike & Annie to reload the spear gun but time was of the essence so I took the gaff-hook, which I'd positioned in reach in case needed, and landed the two-holed tuna on our aft deck. Next came the big lump hammer & cutting board. Remembering how difficult it was to kill the barracuda (we couldn't eat for fear of poisoning in BVI) down came the lump hammer on the tuna's head and splurt went it's brains and blood EVERYWHERE. It was one of those "Bit too much dynamite there Butch" moments! Mike and Annie were well & truly blooded, so was the aft deck, the white gelcoat, the teak, the fenders and stanchions. Mike says "Next time we kill the fish with alcohol!" My way is very decisive, although I must remember not to go so hard on likes of tuna. It was de-scaled, gutted, be-headed and de-tailed, then cut-up into slices within minutes. one third in the fridge for todays lunch (afternoon dinner) Thai curry rice & fresh tuna. Two x one third's in freezer for future use. The day was certainly getting better! Then there's the unexpected sting in the tail. Our sliding washboard (remember when it jammed shut on the westward passage a day or so before landfall at Barbados?) Well it jammed again when I was wanting it up (not sure that sounds polite but I know what I mean!). Fortunately, since last repairing washboard in February I can replace a broken counter-balance spring more easily. Two hours or so (as well an interlude to enjoy scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for evening meal) later, broken spring out/new spring in and washboard working perfectly well again. That's enough for one day. Now past 21:00, we're into Mikes watch and it's gone time for me to hit the sack and make some ZZZZZZZZ's.
An uneventful night. Email off to DYL & Sue, weather forecasts updated. Annie takes over at 03:00 and I'm making ZZZZZ's again. Just another day in the office and we're on the sodden donk in good sailing winds. We can start looking forward to seeing Flores late Wednesday/early Thursday and we're on the sodden donk in good sailing winds.
And finally for today........... just had (and having) the most amazing display of dolphins, one particular show-off flew vertically out the water, just couple of metres in front of our bow and back-flipped before re-entering the sea!
That's us up to date for now. Have a good Bank Holiday Sue and R,M,S & T and J,P,F & S xxxxxxxxxxx
Ticketeeboo MMSI 235071989 Callsign 2CED3, Ham callsign = m0hng
At 25/05/2014 15:00 UT our position was 38°49'N 041°23'W
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