Yesterday afternoon after sending you our latest blog, we hit an object presumed to be a whale as we saw a black fin astern immediately afterwards. Good news is that following an inspection of all forward compartments Grey Power is sound and intact and we suffered no rudder damage but the bang which the collision made was impressive. We have seen two more whales this afternoon and the skipper was heard to mutter something about the fact they should be required to carry shapes and navigation lights!
In addition to this, David decided to pirouette around the cockpit sliding from one side to another and significantly bruising his ribs. Although he was in some discomfort yesterday, today he is in much better form. He has resumed steering Grey Power which we take as a very positive sign. He does have a nice bruise to show to all interested mind you!
Last night before getting into our now traditional rolling watches, we decided that we would gybe at first light this morning as we needed to move north and away from our easterly course to where the wind direction would be more favourable to a direct course for the finish line at the Lizard.. So the day started early for the entire GreyPower team as the latest weather forecast was checked at 4 am ship's time and then the gybe followed as nothing new had emerged from the morning's weather report. Of course a debrief over a cup of coffee ensued before people returning to their watches or bunks so a good hour and a half was spent at sunrise by all of us.
After a hearty mid morning breakfast, we decided today would be a day of miscellaneous chores. The water maker was put to good use and all water containers were topped up. Sikaflex sealant was applied to the forward sail locker hatch and skylights above the chart table. Hopefully this will reduce water ingress. The netting was modified on the aft starboard bunk (one of the three which we have on board) so that rather than have a narrow 2 foot wide bunk, we now have something much larger which is to us luxury. It feels we have a double bed all of a sudden on board. All in all it makes what was a rather uncomfortable bunk into a very nice one. Finally, David put his engineering skills to good use and spent a fair few hours stripping and rebuilding the reefing winch which is now operational.
Grey Power was also give a bow to stern bail out and the hull in the living section was given a good clean!
The sun came out this afternoon to greet us and the heat it generated was welcomed. Up to now we have manage to "steam bake" (rather than dry) wet oilskins etc by laying them on top of the engine box (which is in the middle of the cabin before the wide central navigator's bench) and use the heat given off by the engine when charging the batteries to get rid of some of the moisture content. This afternoon remaining garments and shoes where exposed to the sun to make them toasty!
Our two most experienced Atlantic sailors (namely Robin and Bernard) decided that today was the day for their traditional Atlantic shower which they duly had on the aft deck using a bucket to bring up water and tippin it over themselves. Despite their assurances that the water was not really that cold none of the other crews have followed. I wonder why?
All in all a rather good day where jobs have been done and the sun has warmed us up and enabled to vent Grey Power. As at the time of written, we are approaching the ice zone frontier which we must stay clear of, so we are keeping a close eye on our navigation equipment to ensure a further timely gybe which we hope will eventually put us on the rhumb line to home.
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