Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race - Day 2

We are going well although we are quite far offshore, crossing the Bass Straits we are getting a good run just a shame we are 2 spinnakers down. But we are doing what we can with the resources we have.

Later in the day toward the evening the wind changed and we start running a little more upwind at 25-3o knots, as we continue to cross the Bass Straits. All of us are freezing on the rail hiking out, getting soaked with the heavy sea state. This is definitely a challenge and I am starting to realise that maybe I don't have enough warm clothing, and that my waterproof oil skins aren't quite up to the tough weather we are experiencing. Nothing like being cold and damp for long periods of time. But its worth it and we are racing as best we can.

Early in the day we noticed that some of the patching on the mainsail was coming lose, with the heavy weather it basically started to fall apart and during the middle of the night the mainsail tears. It has to be completely removed and we hoist the trisail (storm main sail which is very small and bright orange), we bring the sail down below and start to dry it and get ready to repair it. We don't have much left in the sail repair kit as it was used before we left on the sails that needed fixing before the race so the decision is to try something different. Gaffer tape, a spoon and a lighter... interesting. The sail is stuck with gaffer tape, the lighter heats the spoon and hte spoon melts the tape into the kevlar sail... hopefully this will stick.

It takes time to fix the sail, and time to let it dry and then put it back up again... the whole process takes a couple of hours but at least we maintain momentum with the trisail to an extent. The main back up and crisis over for the time being we get back into our shift routines. Unfortunately for poor Helen as she goes off shift she gets stuck in the heads (the toilet) when someone falls through the locked door, it takes quite a while to get her out and given her sea sickness it really isn't a pleasant time for her.

With the door problems we now have to sail with the heads door open from now on to avoid anyone getting stuck!! What more can happen, you certainly can't say that this is dull...