From down under

There we go, a new year has started and a new leg has started with lots
of change. Though I still need to tell you about the finish of the
previous race. The break away from the boat was absolutely fantastic and
I really enjoyed it. Spent a day in Perth sightseeing and cycling along
the northern beach and a full week in Adelaide with my sister. Relaxing,
reading, going to the beach, ice creams,short hike, walking the dog,
canoeing, rowing (which was quite exiting since I had not been in a boat
for 14 years and never in a quadruple sculls but it did remind me of the
pain I used to have in my butt as I was feeling it almost immediately),
bbq's, wine tasting (how heavenly can wine and cheese be!!!) and a bit
of sightseeing along the way. I thouroughly enjoyed the freedom of
moving around without the threat of violence and the laid back attitude
of the Aussies! Then back onto the smelly boat.
 
Change...hmmmm...yes. Despite the comforting words of the new skipper
that nothing big would change things absolutely did change. Biggest
annoyance: stuff has moved place. Second biggest annoyance: sailing the
boat seems to be not so important anymore and everybody seems to be
lacking the drive to sail the boat fast, look after her etc. Very
strange! Other major annoyance: there is no strategy to sail this race.
The result of this all: damaged sails and deck gear and we are sailing
in the cruising division at this moment.
 
This needs to change! Don't know how to start turning this around and I
am very low on energy since I have wasted sleep and precious time on
deck with another change "the mother watch" (one full day of cooking and
cleaning).
 
Anyway with all the damage incurred it has been eventfull so far. We had
a lucky start trying to squeeze in between comittee boat and other
opponent and got away with it. We had the kite up first and overtook
a few boats in the early stages. Managed to get myself up the mast again
to check whether our spi block in the top of the mast was still on its
main shackle or on the safety strop. We dropped flowers over the wreck
site of the HMAS Sydney where 647 souls lost their lives in WW2. AFter
that we broke our jockey pole and we ended up wrecking our heavy weight
spinaker (the most important one!!!) just after overtaking Hull and Humber
on the downwind side (not smart!) when we were hit by a squally gust and a
crosswave that knocked us down. Then we tore the foot on our medium weight
spinaker, found out our sewing machine service kit with all the spare
machine needles is missing and some of us ended up hand stitching 6m of
tear in the kite. Next morning in another careless moment we broke a
sheave and bearings in the traveller and it appeared two of our jammers
were failing to jam which caused the jockey pole and traveller damage.
Most of the damage is now repaired and hopefully lessons learnt.
 
Two days have passed since I wrote the above. No more damage incurred just
added frustration that the usual team mechanics are not working anymore,
the winds are slow and from behind, we are still tagging along in the
cruising division.
 
Wildlife has been disappointing with only 4 birds so far, one manta ray
(which I did not see), one flock of dolphins, some flying fish and one
dying tropical reef fish at the surface. Temperatures are pleasantly hot
and cloud cover gives some relief from the burning sun during the day.
Nights are dark with a shrinking moon that comes up quite late and clouds
blocking the light from the stars. But when the clouds lift the view is
breathtaking and we are treated to magnificent shooting stars and a great
view of the milky way. So its not all bad!