From ocean racer
Bruce Schwab and the OceanPlanet crew, aboard
Margaret Anna: Slow going so far, we left last evening at 5:30pm France time…into a stiff headwind and choppy seas. Spent the night pounding away under staysail and double-reefed main. Several upset stomachs aboard but no mishaps other than some irritating little leaks and the general bashing.
Until earlier today that is, when the staysail stay turnbuckle broke at the threads just above the lower toggle. Apparently the lashing there for the tack of the staysail was restricting the movement of the toggle, which caused fatigue in the threads. So we had to bear away for a while replacing the turnbuckle by rigging up a lashing and cinching it as tight as possible. Problem solved, other than losing some ground.
At dusk the view of the mountains of Spain to the south of us was spectacular. Too bad there isn’t time to stop…I would love to see more of Spain than I did last fall when I was helping Tim in his effort to get this boat ready for the Velux 5-Oceans race. Someday…
While in La Rochelle it was great to see some of my friends from Les Sables (see www.oceanplanet.fr), who drove down to visit and help It would have been great to see more of La Rochelle also…these trips most often wind up as a tour of marinas and boatyards….;-)
This evening the wind has conked out so we are motoring slowly westward along the Spanish coast. Tomorrow the wind should fill in from the north and we’ll be taking off as this boat should be able to. We are all looking forward to that! Don’t forget you can
track our position on our website Time for a nap…catch ya later,
