NEWS AND NOTES
Blue Water Sailing
January 13, 2009
Sam Davies hits mini-Sargasso Sea
13 Jan. 2009: "Well, yesterday evening was hard work! I was just thinking that now the upwind work has started, things will become quieter - I may even get bored.... That was a mistake to think that, because just as I picked up my book, Roxy lurched and slowed instantly from 10 to 8 knots.... So, I got out my endoscope to inspect what "cling-ons" we had picked up, and discovered that we had been attacked by a forest of giant Kelp! I spent an hour doing back downs (after four years of Figaro I'm good at that) but to no avail. The kelp was probably as long as Roxy as the branches trailed beyond the transom (from around the keel!) I managed to wrestle a bit of it off with the boathook and my hands (disgusting!) So, I realised that I may have to take an earlier bath than planned to free us from our "cling-on"! I stopped Roxy by dropping all the sails - the first time since the two months of the race that Roxy has stopped! I waited to see if this would clear the kelp and had another look with the endoscope - Yes! The forest has gone - thank goodness - no swimming for me today. So, after a lot of exercise (and 2 hours of down-time), I got Roxy up and running again - kelp-free and 2 knots faster! I was totally knackered, I managed to eat an 800 calorie meal, a bar of chocolate and drink pretty much an entire bottle of water! Hopefully today I will not have so many adventures - in fact I am actually quite looking forward to being bored..."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message on http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en
