Last week we left Shayne on a rather pleasant trip from Antigua across the Atlantic Ocean on his way to Toulon in France.
This week shows the transition to North Atlantic conditions with the wind building and the sea state starting to make off-watch snoozes a little more challenging. Gone are the light breezes and sunshine of the Caribbean as the North Atlantic Ocean becomes wilder. Shayne keeps us updated as the weather and daily life of a professional delivery crew. The Gunboats are technical yachts to sail and the crew you see onboard here are highly experienced in sailing these types of vessels.
We’ve also got a bit of tech talk on slave rings thrown in for your dose of yachting nerdiness.
1000nm from the Azores, the crew are slowed down considerably after hitting something in the water. While unable to confirm what they hit, the force was enough to slow down a 68ft performance multihull doing 12kts across the ocean. The rudder was damaged and therefore unusable for the remainder of the trip. The rudder box also sustained damage.
Luckily or (unluckily!) Shayne has been in this situation once before on a Transatlantic and while it is not something that is enjoyable to experience (even the once) the problems it produces are not unsurmountable and he is able to remove the rudder and continue sailing. The plan now is to head to the Azores where they will be able to source materials to repair the rudder box and find a replacement rudder blade.
Toulon will have to wait for now…