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From the yacht Adventure - 29 December 2006

Home 2006 From the yacht Adventure - 29 December 2006

RSHYR 2006 entrant

news
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The crew of Adventure have recovered from the earlier strong winds and are now into the rhythm of life at sea.  Our lives are dominated by the routine of sailing the yacht.  The  strange feeling of being woken at odd hours of the day to go on watch and the intense concentration by the helms men and women as they seek to get the maximum boat speed for the given wind conditions.

Our crossing of Bass Straight was uneventful as the wind conditions had dropped down to 10 – 15 knots.  Last time we were in Bass Straight was on the delivery of the yacht from Fremantle to Sydney and on that occasion we had 50 knots of wind and big following seas.  Judging by the forecast if any of the fleet are still in the straights they will be getting 30 knots of wind and I don’t envy them.

For us as a heavy displacement yacht our lives have become dominated by the light winds which were are now experiencing.  After the position reports each boat in our class is plotted on our Raymarine Chart Plotter, it gives us an idea of where each boat is in relation to us. Initially we were ahead of the fleet and without another yacht in sight.  But as we come down the coast of Tasmania all the yachts have converged and we now have 6 yachts in sight and we are all playing cat and mouse with each other.

Some of the yachts have already put up either Code 0 sails or an asymmetric, it seems they are having a few problems and so we have opted to stick with our Genoa, which has done us proud on this race, it has handled far more than we expected and given us some good speed.

With just under 90 miles left to run we are in for a long night as the light breeze is only giving us 8 knots of boat speed, although we have been able to bear away a little as the wind comes round.

As we get closer thoughts turn to our arrival in Hobart.  This will be a new experience for all those on Adventure, as each of us is doing the Rolex Sydney to Hobart for the first time.  It is eagerly anticipated and the first beer is going to feel great, along with the satisfaction of having completed such a great race.

Charles Roberts
Adventure
www.mercurychallenge.mod.uk