From The Deck Of Prospector 09 July 2015 1100Z

From The Deck Of Prospector 09 July 2015 1100Z

Good morning.  A glorious morning, as predicted, with partly cloudy skies and a west wind at 18-22 knots.  Temperature hovers near 61, and a benign sea state has lifted everyone’s spirits.  It’s a dry-out day, and bits of gear and boots drape from the lifelines after the soaking received 2 days ago.  With the breeze building, it is the perfect reward for a very light and frustrating night. 

The sole perk of the overnight shifts was a late moonrise, delayed by cloud layers on the horizon.  Normally, we welcome the moon’s arrival as it illuminates the surface, giving context for the boat’s seemingly random lurches and surges.  But last night, the late arrival meant the only natural light came from the bioluminescence.  Back home at night, you see the odd glowing pear fish in your wake, but out here, an unimaginable count of microscopic, bioluminescent plankton surrounded Prospector in an ethereal blue glow, growing and splashing with each pitch and roll.  It was really quite a sight in a “what exactly am I looking at?” kind of way. 

Back to the present, Prospector does many things well, but she can be a bit underpowered downwind in light breezes.  As these conditions prevailed during the past 24 hours, we could do little but watch Snow Lion and Maximizer, our competition, eat away the distance between us and them. 

To fend them off, we gybed north in pursuit of bigger breeze and a more favorable angle to the Lizard.  As the wind strengthened, the A2 became unstable and we had to take it down.  The local foredeck union had the code 0 ready to roll, but in the back of the bus, one of the bolts holding the starboard wheel to its hub sheered.  We were left with a loose piece of metal rolling around inside the wheel with each turn.  After a formula 1 style pit stop, the wheel was removed and deemed unfixable out here.  Crisis averted, we hoisted the 0.

 

The wheel still works, but it’s quite annoying, and those of us with bunks near the helm are suddenly a bit more eager for England.