December 10th, 2009 – At Sea, 12º 11′S, 036º 08′W
by Herb McCormick
The biggest, and arguably the most striking sail aboard Ocean Watch is our big, asymmetrical, North Sails spinnaker replete with a sensational, graphic depiction of North and South America. Designed by an inspired Clayton DeFrate of the Pacific Science Center, the blue logo, representing the course sailed by Ocean Watch on the Around the Americas expedition, stands out strongly against the billowing white sailcloth. Sadly, the prescribed breeze range for the sail is rather narrow-in other words, the wind and sea conditions need to be ideal to set the gigantic kite, otherwise you risk blowing it to smithereens-so we hadn’t had the chance to fly it in ages and ages.
That is, we hadn’t had the faultless day to deploy it in months and months…until today.
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This afternoon, on the second day of sweet, matchless sailing down the rapidly disappearing flank of Brazil, the crew of Ocean Watch hoisted the chute, sheeted it home, and watched the giant sail snap smartly and crisply as it set perfectly in the 10-12 knot following breeze. Almost immediately, Ocean Watch kicked up her heels and began hauling the mail, and our boat speed jumped by a nifty third, from six to nine knots. As if on rails, the 64-footer parted the wavelets, and in a split second flat, all was very right with the world.
We’ve all heard skiers talk about “champagne powder,” when grand piles of the white stuff are dumped on the slopes in cold, dry, fluffy perfection, and the skis don’t really carve but float down the steeps. There’s such a thing as “champagne sailing,” too, when the breeze wafts through the sails just a tad aft of the beam; when a gentle quartering sea lifts the stern just so in the easy puffs of wind; and when the very definition of a sparkling sea flashes endless diamonds of light atop a sun-splashed ocean. Truth be told, we’ve had precious few moments when all the forces of the universe aligned in such magical rhythm…until today.
Sure, we’ve had more extreme, thrilling sailing. The three-day gale in the Labrador Sea, as we put the final touches on the run through the Northwest Passage before reaching Newfoundland, was easily one of the wildest rides any of us have ever experienced. But for the last two days, and especially once we got the powerful spinnaker up and drawing, we’ve enjoyed the most efficient, fun, sensuous and pleasurable sailing since leaving Seattle lo those many moons ago. The breeze has been consistently from the same direction, giving us a fine beam reach; the only difference is the pressure, a knot or two to either side of a steady ten knots. It goes a little aft in the lulls, a little forward in the puffs: inhaling and exhaling, almost a living thing unto itself.
And after the long, sweaty, discouraging run from the Caribbean to Northern Brazil, it sure has added life to the crew of Ocean Watch.
Skipper Mark Schrader is enjoying it as much as anyone, as evidenced in this entry from his Captain’s Log on the evolution of today’s voyaging:
“Juneau, Alaska, 12th of June, 14,000 miles ago. That’s when we dropped our beautiful blue and white spinnaker on the deck, packed it in its bag and stowed it in the aft lazarette, stored, but not forgotten for almost six months. Two hours ago, I was sitting in this same position at the nav station with a pile of receipts on the desk and an Excel spreadsheet open on the computer when Herb suddenly leaned his head through the companionway and rather enthusiastically said, ‘Conditions are right, how about the chute?’ Tough call: accounting or spinnaker work? He knew what my answer would be before asking the question.
“Moments later we were all scurrying around finding the necessary bits of rigging while Herb and Dave Logan
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wrestled the large spinnaker bag out of the lazarette – no small feat since the dinghy sits atop the larger of the two hatches while the accessible but smaller one grants access through the aft cabin bulkhead. Soon the bag, Herb and Dave emerged and hauled the slightly musty smelling package to the foredeck. Five minutes later the jib was furled, staysail gasketed on deck and the spinnaker flying. It is a beautiful sail and our current conditions are ideal for it. Ten to twelve knots of beam breeze and Ocean Watch is making eights and nines through the water, smiles all around.”
That sail in Juneau that Mark mentioned was actually a photo shoot, an opportunity for photographer David Thoreson to gather some stock images complete with snowy peaks and a stirring Alaska backdrop. But today’s deployment of the chute was the first time we’ve actually flown it “in anger” – that is, as a working sail, not a prop, for the purpose of making fast miles while the getting’s good…and man, it doesn’t get much better.
Strange as it seems, after all this time and all these miles, we just hadn’t had the opportunity…until today. And as the sun set behind South America, the kite was flying still, full and purposeful, driving us down the coast through the night, towards Rio.
- Herb McCormick and Mark Schrader with photographs by David Thoreson
This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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