Aboard Cheyenne in the Oryx Quest

by Gordon Maguire courtesy EPIRBhire on 10 Feb 2005 We are four days out of Doha and have had a fascinating start to the Oryx Quest race – on the first day saw 25 knots of wind and 32 knots of boat speed.

The boat is amazing when the breeze is up and the power and acceleration is just breath taking. The last two days have been very light.

We have used the calm weather to become familiar with the boats unusual systems and habits. I live in the starboard hull, which is very narrow dark and an incredibly noisy existence!

When the boat is thundering along at 30 knots plus, it’s quite a racket as the water rushes by and the daggerboards whine.

The galley is in the port hull and several times a day we have to cross the trampoline. At high speed this is quite nerve racking, as the waves shoot up through the netting and absolutely smash you. This is called ‘getting mugged’.

Cheyenne is always sailed from the windward cockpit, so manoeuvres such as jibing can be a lot of fun, as you have to run across the trampoline as you go through the jibe.

This may sound as no big deal, however, it is 60 plus feet across, done in full foul weather gear on a bouncy trampoline and big seas! Lots of fun.
Tactically, we screwed up the second day. Got becalmed on the Iranian coast and that cost us 100 miles.

We are now trying to catch up with a little gamble by sailing east around a high pressure cell. The tactics are interesting because the speeds are so high when the wind is fresh it pays to sail a long way to stay in pressure.

Lastly, the boat has been holding up well, considering the lateness of the preparation. On day one we hit a submerged object doing 30 knots and have taken a chunk out of the port daggerboard the size of a fist. We will attempt to repair it today as the wind is down.

http://www.epirbhire.com.au/cheyenne.htm