Days 5 and 6: spinnakers, fortune and troubles

I can’t count the number of times in the last 48 hours we have launched spinnakers and retrieved them. At any hour of the day, midnight, 2AM, 6AM, 10AM, etc. You get the idea. It’s been crazy.

We basically have two spinnakers: a large asymmetric one and a fairly large but smaller symmetric one. The route to Hawaii typically has three phases: 1) no spinnaker, 2) asymmetric spinnaker and 3) symmetric spinnaker. This is because the wind angle keeps on opening. I am grossly simplifying but this is not a blog for experts.

The thing is that we have had a bit of trouble with the asymmetric spinnaker. I will call it ‘asy’ for short. There is a lot of shafe on the halyard at the level of the sheave and we are not really sure why. So the halyard may either break or we need to take it down repeatedly to take care of it. The thing is that dealing with our capricious asy has been time consuming. During one night, our asy wrapped around the forestay and we had to take it down to disentangle the mess. We’re glad we this misfortune happened, because had we left it a little longer, the halyard would have broken. Which would mean sending Olivier up the mast again…

Yesterday, we decided to try the symmetric spinnaker. I will call it ‘sym’. Sym is brand new and has a nice color, which reminds me of coquelicots (poppies) and is why I picked it. This worked beautifully! It’s a bit of work to setup because we need to use a spinnaker pole which must be carefully balanced and angled, but once it’s in the air, it’s easier to handle. Sym is more forgiving than asy so the person at the helm has an easier time. We had a gorgeous day from the moment we launched it to the moment we took it down. I recall that just before dinner, Seb F, Olivier and I were at the helm, and we kept on saying that this is what this trip is all about. We were going quite fast down the waves and at some point we reached an average of 12.2 kts. It was a hell of an experience and a moment I will forever keep in the corner of my memory. If you add to this a warmer temperature, a glass of punch Bertrand had prepared and a ragout of lamb with beans Arnaud had prepared for us, we were close to heaven.

During the night, we decided to put a smaller sym but soon enough the sheet got detached — the buckle opened for reasons no one understands. We retrieve, launch again and then the spliced eye on the guy breaks. More maneuvers. You know the drill by now. We decided to use the jib for the rest of the day and relaunch the next day.

Which is… today. Relax day today. Low winds and calm seas. Smooth sailing all day. Very different from yesterday. Lower speeds for sure. Everyone took this opportunity to wash. This is quite a funny process. We go aft, take a bucket, fill it with seawater and then pour it all over. Then we wash energetically with the famous sailor’s soap. And then new buckets to rinse. Then fast dry to avoid being salty. People did this naked, others in bathing suits, others in underwear. No matter the dress code, everyone enjoyed it and felt refreshed. I even shampooed! With the famous sailor’s soap of course.

We tried fishing without much success. We sewed the asy. We prepared a nice omelet, made some nice Illy coffee. Life on board on a quiet day.

We are not super lucky with the weather. The sky is usually overcast. It rains quite a bit at night. It’s not pouring though. Just the kind of light rain you would find in England which makes you wet and keeps all your clothing humid. Last night, for half an hour, the sky opened and I could see all the stars. I saw some shooting stars. What a spectacle! I want more hours of this.

Okay, now that asy is repaired, it’s time to launch again. They’re calling me on deck so I will say bye for now.