Day 1
Well it’s 7pm in the star bar and Ressie is revelling in the most spectacular cruising breeze with a sunset worth sailing into! Actually, unusually for this crew, words fail us doing justice to how spectacular this feels!
We have separated considerably from the fleet… We are the outliers!
Our first radio net communication with the rest of the fleet established there is some motoring, some sporadic sailing, some colourful sails and early but brief spinnaker action, whale spotting and some chocolate brownie cooking. Radio contact twice daily promises to bring some lively banter!
Oops…spoke too soon and after a brief stint on the kitchen galley after sunset I am now feeling queasy and out for the count! Luckily conditions are very mild so I managed to sleep off the malaise and felt much better in the morning.
Day 2
A motoring day today and pretty hot. A tiny bit of excitement as we line caught a big something which was trawling behind us until the line snapped. Tonight is my first solo watch with a little bit of wind and sails close hailed … Engines running to keep the speed up.
Day 3
We had a little more wind overnight and managed to set the sails and turn off the engine. We have a problem with sending transmissions over the SSB radio which is used to communicate all the fleet positions and wind conditions twice daily. No one can hear us although we can hear them. Mike from Paradise Found has been fabulous help for Ken in trying to figure out the problem but after spending most of this really hot day below decks splicing cables and trying to fix the problem it seems like the only solution is to fly a new unit in with the incoming crew…thanks Janice!
Watches at night have been divvied up based on who is in their element staying up late (Glenda!!), who doesn’t mind being woken up (Tracy unless she is seasick) and Ken jumps up anytime, for any issue! Jon and Rachel will be impressed to know that Tracy and Glenda don our PFD’s every night for our watches and have become very familiar with getting them on and off. They also make for great dancing outfits as the fluoro stripes light up the cabin dance floor. Tracy with the dodgy knee only has one dance floor move… the PFD shuffle and provides some hilarity when the girls are sharing night watch duties!
Day 4
3am and we have a visual of Carango to our starboard. I imagine as we close in on roti later this morning we will see a few fleet boats plotting similar courses. Outside on deck the sky is amazing…so many stars.
We have sailed without motor for most of today with gentle wind to about 10 knots. We now have Paradise Found off our starboard side and she appears to be sailing with motor. After receiving radio communications this morning it seems all the fleet are experiencing very light winds and there is a lot of motor sailing going on. Fuel orders are being emailed today and we hope Lombok is prepared for some pretty hefty fuel supplying when everyone arrives at Gili Gede. Projected arrival at the finish line is around mid- to late-morning on 12th September. After finishing we will need to do the final 20 to 30 nautical miles in daylight toward Marina del Ray (Aussie Ray’s marina which is a work-in-progress apparently!) on Gili Gede in order to avoid taking pearl farms along with us!
We are certainly hoping for some increased winds over the next few days but apart from that we have found a very relaxing rhythm…eat sleep eat sleep solve world problems eat and sleep some more… Oh and sail Resolute II efficiently onward to Lombok!