Quingdao in heavy seas

Blogs

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Life on board Qingdao 01/10/09

Life on board Qingdao has been busy today, with various evolutions and manoevres happening throughout our watches. We have had Spirit of Australia hot on our tail for most of the day, we are now Qingdao versus Australia battling it out for second place both sailing with heavy weight spinnakers down the coast of Spain. We have now been sailing for over 48 hours with our spinnakers, all crew on board are adjusting to the constant pressure of helming with the kites, gybing and trimming for course or speed. Below deck we have work time between one o'clock and four o'clock in the afternoon when all three watches are awake working on maintenance, cleaning and making further adjustments to improve life and performance on Qingdao.. Tonight is a clear night with plenty of stars visible and a moonlit alleyway leading us towards The Canary Islands, so it’s great night to be on deck. We have had the company of several porpoise at various moments throughout the day, especially when we have been on the bow preparing our spinnaker poles and we’ve watched them surfing in our bow wake.

During the day we have had several small adventures on the boat which has included hoisting Wani out to the end of the spinnaker pole. It’s a great learning experience and Wani loved it! I went on my own adventure and decided to volunteer myself to go to the top of the mast and change the spinnaker halyard. I have never been up the mast at sea before so I was nervous before we even began...eek! We have a great helming helmet on board and skip decides its a good idea I go up with that on, as the boat was rolling a bit. Using the mast track to grip into with my hands and my legs wrapped tightly around the mast I am attempting to climb like a Koala. By the time I reach the top of the mast, my heart is in my mouth and my arms are shaking with fatigue. Now to reach out backwards and connect the new spinnaker halyard and disconnect the original halyard. This is becoming more difficult as the crew below deck have to tension up the new spinnaker halyard but it pins me tightly around the chest against the mast meaning that I cant move! Ten minutes later (or what felt like an hour) my fellow crew manage to get me down from the mast - phew! My legs are like jelly and I feel myself getting a little emotional with the relief of being down on deck. My hands and forearms are cramping from trying to grip so hard. My inner thighs are bruised and chafed from gripping and sliding on the mast. I knew it was going to be scary but it is physically hard as well. I did manage to take a good look around at the top of the mast and was great to see the view of the white capped sea and Spirit of Australia with their spinnaker up close behind us. Safely on deck with a cup of tea in my shaky hand, I am proud I made it up there in a pitching and rolling sea and look forward to do it again sometime with maybe a little more confidence and grace!!!

Time for bed - next on watch at 4am.

Lois