ARC 2016 – DAY 9 – Every Type of Weather

Fruit hammocks

 
The latest report from Challenger 3 sees the FCS crew in fine spirits while the elements putting on a majestic yet varied display.

Showers in the Rain

Monday 28 November: Heading due West, the wind was starting to lighten and veer. At around 1530, there were dark grey storm clouds on the horizon, which seemed to swallow up half the sky, promising the heaviest squall we had seen yet. It was not clear whether the storm would strike before or after the Watch change, but just in case, the oncoming Watch crew were lining up excuses to head below decks: “I can’t remember if I put my teaspoon away” etc.

There was a silver lining to the grey storm clouds, however. With the water maker broken, showers were off and water conservation top of the agenda. As the storm broke, B Watch headed up on deck in their swimming shorts, shower gel in hand, and showered in the rain water. Concerns that there would be insufficient rain to work up a proper lather were unnecessary. It hosed it down. For hours.

Fortunately for the brave fellows of B Watch, who have probably weathered the worst of the weather up to now without (excessive) complaint, the storm struck later than expected. A-Watch were left to weather the full force of the storm, which would continue for three hours pushing through dusk into the night.

The rain was torrential, the lightning massive in scale, the wind gusting unpredictably, and the cups of tea infrequent and tepid. Formerly of A Watch and joining B Watch tomorrow, Charlie “I’m a fair weather sailor” avoided the storm as he was on Mother Watch, but had a similar scale battle on his hands as he cooked a Thai Green Curry for 16 people in a galley the size of a ‘cupboard under the stairs’ in stifling conditions as all the ports were battened down.

Tony, B Watch

Finding the Milky Way

Colour change: Challenger 3 is now a dark green

What a mixed bag the last 24 hours have been! Smooth seas, sunshine, hammocks and bikinis. Beautiful sailing. Dark grey clouds, torrential rain, shifting, squally showers. Darkness lit up by blinding fork lightening nearby and deep rumbling thunder.

Intense winds launched us closer to the edge of the storm and light blue skies beyond… only to lose all the wind and be left wallowing whilst the darkness again caught us up and enveloped us, until night itself arrived and all light was lost.

After an hour of light but steady winds, the wind died once again as expected. A dark night was lit up by millions of stars and the Milkyway gleamed spectacularly overhead.

Peter’s watch and I had a great few hours carefully helming and trimming sails to keep the boat moving in sometimes less than 2 knots of wind. Somehow we managed to tease the most out of our mainsail and Genoa and kept her ghosting along, making a whole 3 Nautical miles! Races are won and lost in light airs.

A week in, and other than storm stay and tri-sail, we have used every sail on the boat!

It will be interesting to see how Challenger 2 and Challenger 4 did overnight with the varied boat and weather positions… it feels like either could be anywhere right now, it really is an interesting race wind/position wise.

A steady 8 – 9 knots SOG (Speed over the ground) this morning and blue skies. Need to keep moving SW and keep dodging wind holes. The next few days seem to be just as shifty and complex as the last and with once daily weather reports plans change at the same rate.

Nearly half way on the mileage front (1500nm), looking forward to a fancy dress half way party to celebrate and have put up relevant posters around the boat this morning!
Kirstie – Mate, Challenger 3

Is Your Star Out Tonight?

The crew of Challenger 3 still holding their own against 2 & 4

Almost half way through to Santa Lucia and we experienced everything from very light winds, when every 0.1 kn speed gain was hoorayed by all on deck, to strong 32kn gales very useful to set up new “speed record” club: 11 kn, 12 kn… and, finally, 16 kn club (with only one proud and, probably, lonely member though).

This day contained everything from sunshine to tropical rainfall. As rain can be seen miles away, the upcoming grey gloomy clouds were noticed far ahead. As most of us never been in such a weather discussion caused lots of amusement.

Finally, when the rain arrived (or rather we arrived to the rain), some people had their showers on the deck with the excuse of “broken watermaker”, which was fixed by that time, by the way. Below the deck, this foam party sounded more like ballet dance performed by baby elephants with equally joyful noises.

No need to mention companionway looked like there was rain too. The watch, which had to stay on deck from 4 to 8 pm looked just a little bit less than happy, in their foul weather jackets, and, by mystery coincident, shorts. No wind, gloomy pinkish shadow and heavy rain (by my measures about 2 mm/5 mins), what else can you ask for? No surprise, that number of coughs per minute on the boat increased and can be heard every now and then.

Foodwise, we are trying to be ahead of nature, hence, consume vegs and fruits before they rot (not always successfully), as a result, we get curries with unexpected ingredients and apples overload. In the meantime “banana experiment” was a success and 16 bananas were ripened, thanks to a scientific approach, a couple of days ahead of their comrades, still green in the sail locker.

The occasional flying fish still causes a stir on the deck, especially, because some people expected them to flap their fins while in the air. Well… flying fish glide, just 50-60 cm above the water surface. Next step is to get flying fish on board for closer examination. According to knowledgeable sources, this type of fish begins smelling disgusting already on its way to the deck. Cannot wait to see the amount of hilarity it will cause.

Stargazing is another pastime for night watch hours, lead us to the game of “name your own constellation”, we ended up with “chair”, “shopping trolley” and no name triangular shape, because helmsman could see only those three in the front, but too concentrated on compass to think of name.

Orion and Betelgeuse (aka Beetlejuice) are still the most recognisable constellation and star despite attempts to find Ursus minor… or was it major? Only Bill can talk about stars in a matter-of-factly tone, but it doesn’t sound as funny as newly discovered “chair” constellation.

Yana D, Watch B

First Class Training and Adventures All Year

In case you didn’t know First Class Sailing provides the full range of RYA sailing courses, plus a huge variety of yachting experiences – including sailing the ARC yacht to Las Palmas via the Bay of Biscay and back across the Atlantic to the UK from Antigua.

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Sailing holidays to various parts of the world are on offer, including Norwegian fjord cruises next year and participation in races such as the 2017 ARC Rally, The Rolex Fastnet – a race from Cowes to Ireland, finishing in Plymouth – and the Round the Island race circumnavigating the Isle of Wight.

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