Spinnaker shenanigans on Hummingbird
Well, that was an eventful evening... As November ticked over into the early hours of December, the A Watch of Gary, Danny and Terry were foolishly chatting with Skipper Stu about how calm the sailing was. We were breezing along under full main and spinaker, the boat rocking gently from side to side. No sooner were the words out of our mouths than a sudden squall rocked up and we found ourselves facing 29kt winds and a Hummingbird that literally seemed to be trying to take off. Skipper Stu leapt to the helm and, with a maniacal gleam in his eye like Captain Ahab spotting the White Whale, began to tame the beast. At one point he cackled "We're doing 11 knots!", followed shortly by a more sheepish "But we're 60 degrees off course...". This was after him saying the previous day to steer the desired course and don't go chasing the higher speeds. B Watch (Kiki, Steve and Rene) were on standby and soon appeared on deck to help, along with Mate Alex, who had been roused from her bed and set off towards the bow clad in a nightie, pink bunny slippers and a lifejacket, a marlin spike clenched between her teeth. "I've no pockets!" she complained. Here, the narrative diverges somewhat. According to B Watch, they were the heroes of the hour, leaping to the rescue as the sh*t hit the fan. Terry and Danny, on the other hand, were busy regaling anyone who would listen with tales of their derring-do on the foredeck, while B Watch were merely pulling bits of string from the safety of the cockpit. In fact, the only thing A Watch and B Watch can currently agree on is that C Watch (Charlie, Lis and Clare) are the people you call on when you need someone to get a really good night's sleep. (This is a little unfair, as C Watch have just cooked a delicious lunch of bacon and cheese wraps, so they do have uses other than snoring and duvet-warming after all.) Anyway, after an hour and a half of dragging the spinaker down the companionway, raising the Yankee 1, raising the Staysail and getting things organised, Hummingbird was back on her course, eating up the remaining miles to St Lucia. And our midnight detour doesn't appear to have done us any harm. We're currently lying in 13th overall and seventh in our class. At current progress, we're now looking at a late evening arrival into Rodney Bay on Monday, with the scene set for a photo finish with the boat presently in fourth place. The adventure's nearly over. But then the fun can begin... Watch Leader Terry