The Oyster is my world
11 June 2009 | 37 23'N:00 56'W, 200 miles from Palma
Jonathan
Sailing by definition is the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going nowhere at great expense. In a similar vane ocean racing is like standing in a freezing cold shower fully clothed and tearing up 100 dollar bills. It has also been said that sailing is long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror.
Today we fly along with none of that! We are in the midst of a sailing phenomenon understood by only a true sailor. This phenomenon is known as the �unspoken racing contingent�. By definition it sates �If two boats that are generally headed in the same direction, in the same vicinity, at the same time in similar conditions - ARE in fact racing.� Game on with a nearby Oyster baby!
Yesterday as we passed Gibraltar a larger Oyster pulled out of the harbor just behind us about 2 miles back. We were under motor only. They had full sail up. They were much closer to shore while we were a bit further out cutting the angle to the next point. While we were in good current pushing us along nicely this larger Oyster of maybe 70 � 80 feet was in better breeze and promptly marched up on us. As they drew even with us their wind ran out and since they were closer to shore they experienced less current and we began to pull away.
We had put 3 miles on them in the course of 2 hours while we marched along. By nightfall the wind was completely gone, so it became a game of motor strength. While we have the hammer down we are no match for the increased waterline length and engine strength of this larger boat. They slowly gained to within 1.5 miles by sunset and by morning were about 2.5 miles ahead of us. We had chosen the inside line this time and they had worked their way to the outside.
About 2 hours ago the wind began to fill from the southeast! We raised the main to a double reef and rolled out the full genoa. One Two Many gently heeled to her perfect angle of about 10 degrees and gobbled up the additional horsepower of the sails and spat out a burst of speed like a steady firm stomp on the gas peddle of a big V12 powered Jaguar. We decreased our engine RPM�s and found a full knot of boat speed.. They have chosen to go with full main only and we are bringing them back to us! David and Goliath right here on the flat calm seas � and Hell NO they are not going to beat me to Palma!
We are enjoying a gentle breeze in dead flat seas in the crystal clear sunshine. The crew naps, reads, works on their splicing technique and otherwise busies themselves. Me I tried to play some guitar� not going to happen I can�t get mister Oyster out of my head! She looms there ahead of us and we are flying; gradually bringing her back to us, I check my gauges after every sentence I write at this moment to make sure we are optimum speed, angle, trajectory. Yes you can take the sailor out of the race but you can�t the race out of the sailor!
The forecast is for the wind to gradually veer to a more easterly direction as we move into tonight. We are already close hauled on a very tight angle but holding our speed nicely. I have decided not to sail rhumb line but rather to hedge our bet by 4 degrees to the east. The bet is that if we sail east for the next 8-10 hours we will be able to fall off the 10-15 degrees we will need to in order to be able to continue to sail rather than heading straight for our destination and having to motor into the wind at an unsailable angle. It appears that our Oyster friend is choosing a more direct route now. Time will tell if the forecast is accurate enough for our hand to play out to victory. Of course they may well be sailing to Italy� but in my mind they are headed to the same marina in the slip right next to ours! Get the checkered flag ready One Two Many is in the home stretch!
Trivia will be later today.