All is well aboard S/V Heldeleine. Last night was similar to the previous night with strong winds and high boat speeds. There was the additional element of Everything being Wet. With waves crashing into the cockpit (a nasty first for Heldeleine) it was impossible to avoid getting soaked. Preparing for your watch and having to put on wet follies it rather unpleasant. This morning Mattia got a real first good look at FOG in action. Wet, wet and wet. We started the day in this dense environment and gentle winds. Neither lasted long. The winds are back up and the seas chunky. I was down below off watch when I heard a loud noise and I looked up through the hatch to the mast where I noticed that the brand new Hailer (we had just used it as a foghorn this morning) had been garroted by the spinnaker halyard. Shit. It was swinging around 30 feet up in the air, hanging by 2 feet of wire, banging into the mast. I remember an email exchange over the winter with the yard at Sopromar about where they installed the hailer and that I felt that it was a doomed location. Well, guess what? I went forward and with Pete at the wheel and Laurie controlling the halyard tension we were able to lasso the Foghorn and rip the one wire holding it. I saw no other option at the time. I was not sending any crew including myself up the mast in these lousy conditions. It had to be removed. Quickly. It finally was and I watched as the $250 unit took a swan dive, bounced once on deck and plummeting into the sea. Or should I say that it fell into “the hole in the water” where most boat owner’s money goes….
The fishing tournament between Red Watch (Dan and Mattia) and White Watch (Laurie and Pete) is definitely heating up. Trash talking has begun and bets have been made. White Watch was out to a small, minuscule, diminutive and rather pathetic lead yesterday with Laurie’s Dwarf Albacore but we shall see what the future brings!, Send a note and place your bets. Until tomorrow, regards, Hornblower.