19.11.2008
LEG 2 DAY 5
Greetings from the Monster Hospital Ward.
And the hospital is not necessarily humans. Just for our beautiful boat.
At 4:30 GMT this morning we flew off yet another nice little wave and came
down to another loud CRACK. This time the crack came not from the bow
section but in the index section of the boat, just behind the keel frame.
Three of us were having breakfast at the time and there was a bit of a
stare into each others eyes.
"That didn't sound good" said Justin.
"Nope"...I said.
Nico added, "maybe it was just an unloaded sheet snapping up on deck?"
Justin looked down and said "or maybe it was this large crack splitting
the index longitudinal frame?" The master of understatement, old Justin
is.
So we are busted...again. This time a bit more serious. After final an
analysis on the first break to the longitudinal frames in the bow a couple
days ago, it took 7 hours and about 56 miles to fix. Sounded like quite a
bit at the time but we had enough pace to keep up with the leaders after
the fact and still were in a reasonable position for the scoring gate and
the leg. This one may be a bit tougher to work around though. Not only
is this break in the central structure for the entire boat, but it will
take quite a bit longer to put a fix on- maybe as long as 24 hours, and
this time the actual fix may be a bit more of a band-aide rather than the
fairly solid splint that we could put on the broken front longitudinals.
If the fix takes as long as we think we will have to re-route to Cochin-
missing most of the points that we could have gotten at the scoring gate
and having to bypass the next low coming our way. Simply put, this is not
good.
Capey and I are hard at work trying to see if there is a tactical solution
around this in order to stay remotely in the race. We shall see. First
priority is the safety of the boat and crew and because of that we are
looking to get away from the next low pressure that is coming in from
behind, which doesn't give us many options while trying to get through the
high pressure to the north. The whole reason for riding down into big
breeze in the Southern Ocean was to hook up with that second low pressure
and getting around the high. With our current situation we may be forced
into the high. If that is the case it is time to start talking about
rationing food!
Not only is this a bummer for the team, but a let down for all who have
worked on the program so far. Please understand though that we have not
given up hope on board. Stranger things have happened. We have thousands
of miles to go, and we have the most resourceful guys aboard and on shore
trying to figure out the best way to tackle our situation.
There are a couple of bright spots. It has been reported from the bow
area of the boat that using the toilet while going this slow is a much
more pleasurable experience. Also, Ricky got a hot cup of coffee into
several of us which was a very nice treat. Especially considering the
fact that for the first time in days I didn't spill it on myself or burn
the crap out of my mouth. And finally, the boys on deck report tons of
huge Albatross circling around the boat giving a fantastic show for all.
Just hope that Albatross aren't the vultures of the high seas.
Will report more soon.
- Kenny
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