As we complete our third 24 hour period at sea, we are now fully settled into life on board. Unfortunately, unlike our delivery from Grenada to Newport, we are no longer experiencing either heat or sun. Quite the contrary. We have now been living for over 48 hours in our oilskins and other wet garments. The inside of the boat remains wet with either water dripping from the deckhead (ceiling) in certain areas or little puddles appearing on the hull on which we walk.
In these climates, Grey Power is interesting - we either come below to sweat in the humid sauna which she has now become due to the lack of any ventilation or we go on deck to play with the spray of water coming our way. Either way, we are wet! But at least it is warm wet
We continue to navigate in an easterly direction regularly surfing down waves. One knows when Grey Power is going into such a sprint as the yacht leans suddenly forward (you noticeably feel the bow going down) and then all of a sudden her turbos kick in and of she goes. No different than a fine athlete leaning forward to cross the line first. This is most pronounced sitting at the chart table (the chart table bench is the only sitting position inside Grey Power).
The sound inside the yacht is quite remarkable. Most of the time, we hear bubbles fizzing along the hull. However, when in a surfing sprint, its more like two freight trains going past either side of us. Either way, it is noisy.
We not only have to hold on due to the sudden forward motion (or deceleration as we come of a surf) but we also get thrown from side to side as either a little bit of rudder jerks us sideways or more often than not a wave gives Grey Power a little lateral punch.
Today, we had to tighten the starboard tiler arm as it was slipping on its stock. Hardly surprising as we have in the last three days operated it more than in Robin's entire ownership of Grey Power. Whilst tightening the bolts, Dilip, heaving on the spanner when it slipped and managed to hit Robin with the spanner above the right eye. Accident or not - needless to say Dilip has left his impression on our skipper. Well it will give us something to talk about at happy hour. The skipper's hopes of a scar to add character to his face are unlikely to be realised.
Our computer screen is also suffering a bit from water drips. The bottom left has become one big black spot with a rainbow effect around it due to water ingress. Good job we know where the start button is and that the other icons we need are located on the desktop. We have mitigated this problem with a entire roll of kitchen paper being jammed between the screen and the bulkhead - we hope this will stop it getting any more damage.
Last night our Michelin starred Indian chef prepared us one of his delicacies and this morning we were greeted with our cowboy's breakfast of fried peperoni and beans - needless to say there are no leftovers. We also finished our five last "official" beers - don't tell the skipper but the purser managed to hide a few more in the bottom of our freezer box for another occasion! Please keep the secret!
We continue to sail more to the south than the rest of the fleet in the opinion that this will pay off in due course and only time will tell. In the meantime, we are enjoying ourselves judging by the smiles on all!
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