28.03.02
Latest news from Nick Moloney to Dr Krumnacker
Segel.de
Nick Moloney is a member of Ellen MacArthur's Offshore Challenges Sailing Team http://www.nickmoloney.com
* AFTER SEVERAL DAYS OF SEVERE STORM, Nick gets some news back to us...
* LIFE ON THE EDGE IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN..."You know that if the bows
submerse a few more inches you will have your legs slapped out from beneath
you and be sent, at pace in the direction the wave is travelling which
could be over the side... "
* NEARING AUSTRALIA, JUST OVER 1000 MILES and NICK for once wishing just maybe he could step off "I never thought I'd say it but I would love to jump off just for a little while...not because I am not enjoying the sea...I
just missn the place."
POSITION REPORT
COMPARISON table / JULES VERNE TROPHY
Monday 28th march 2002 at 0856 GMT
POSITION ORANGE
Position : 47°38' S /81°13' E
Speed 24h : 20.47
Distance since departure : 10967.19 miles
Distance 24h : 491.4 miles
COMPARISON TO SPORT ELEC IN 1997
Position : 50°57'S / 65°58' E
Speed 24h : 18.40
Distance since departure : 8980 miles
Distance 24h : 441.70 miles
LATEST LOGBOOK FROM NICK
Enjoying a small break in the wet conditions at the moment. The air is crisp
and cool but managable without gloves for an hour or so till you actually
need to do something then you realise that your fingers are frozen. We are
experiencing a small period of relief from the freezing fire hose and are
doing about 22kts with mostly dry decks. The wind is shifting and we expect
to gybe in the next few hours. We have done our fair share of sail changes
lately. It is a very hard peel from Solent to Gennaker especially when the
Gennaker is stowed below deck. Quite a crazy experience being on the front
trampoline at night. Setting a sail up for a hoist or drop, boatspeed around 25 knots you can
see in the moonlight the tops of waves screaming past beneath you,
sometimes inches from the level of the trampoline. You know that if the bows
submerse a few more inches you will have your legs slapped out from beneath
you and be sent, at pace in the direction the wave is travelling which
could be over the side... When your making the dash from 'no mans land' to a
jack line your heart rate picks up a few beats.
I love knowing that while half the world is sleeping, tucked away warm and
dry, we are wet and cold running through the spray trying to squeeze a few
more miles a day out of this record. I'm not trying to sound hard core, I
just enjoy the feeling that what we are doing is adventurous and different.
We are about 1300 miles from OZ. I never thought I'd say it but I would love to
jump off just for a little while...not because I am not enjoying the sea...I
just missn the place.
We are still hanging on tender hooks to see what becomes of the weather
systems in the next few days. It seems like we are always on the verge of
getting smacked by a storm. Maybe this is what they meant by departing too
late in the Southern Ocean season. You know there is always something
brewing over that grey horizon because of the swell. Its a bit of a spooky
place sometimes.
Wind instruments have died, last night I was driving in the dark at
about 25kts when the TWA [True Wind Angle - vital for knowing where the wind is really coming from] began tacking and gybing....thought I was loosing my marbles. Just took a compass bearing and kept spearing her down track thinking if we gybe now we are in big trouble.
Time to crawl into a warm sleeping bag
nick
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