Back on the line
Karma Daze
Chris and Penny Manley
Fri 20 Dec 2013 22:17
|
Started our second shift on the ARC
finishing line at 10.00 am Sunday 15th December morning. It’s now 02.00
–the early hours of Monday 16th December.. We have checked in 17 boats so
far, the last one at a quarter passed midnight. The next one is due in at
04.15, so time to get some sleep. Penny has had about an hour and Chris is
sleeping now.
The weather continues to be windy and
quite wet. We’re sat on the boat out in the bay with the wind about 20
knots (force 5). A squall has just passed through with torrential rain and
winds gusting up to 35 knots (gale force). Fortunately it doesn’t last for
very long, then the sun is out again. as it’s at night, the moon,which is
very bright as it is nearly a full moon.
We seem to be surrounded by 3 smallish
(200 foot) cruise boats – not the ones that look like a block of flats, but
quite elegant ones with masts and sails. We had to speak to 2 of them when
they came in to explain where the ARC finishing line is place so they didn’t
moor there. Their captains (or whoever we spoke to) were very polite and
helpful. We had to look up the length of a cable as they talked about
dropping their anchors so many cables in front of their bow. (a cable is a tenth
of a nautical mile).
The wind has now eased to about
16 to 20 knots which feels like a gentle breeze after the winds in the
squall.
We have probably about 8 more boats to
check in before our shift finishes at 10.00 Monday morning, when we can retreat
to the relative calm of the marina, until our last duty on
Wednesday |