Velux 5 Oceans Race - Chris Stanmore-Major on un upwind thrashing

by Chris Stanmore-Major on 15 Jan 2011 Velux 5 Oceans Race update from Chris-Stanmore Major.

On Spartan all is well but I must admit to being just the teeniest bit sick of getting firstly bashed about going up wind for 36 hours and then worked like a dog doing sail change after sail change to keep up with the vagaries of the light airs I have been in for the past 12hrs. 

With my route prescribed for me by the necessity to stay closer to land to preserve a viable escape route should my batteries fail I have moved subtly from one form of offshore sailing to another.  

Normally with the whole ocean to go at and only our VMG (Velocity Made Good) to our destination to drive our decision making, the intention of any ocean racer is to find the most appealing combination of weather systems and transitions between systems to exploit for the maximum possible speed to the destination.

For me though with my route laid in as a base line and the opportunity to shape a course solely by the wind removed I have had to think more like a commercial seafarer than a racer. I have my course now and that is that- I must just make the best of whatever lies in my path- as the saying goes 'Grin and bear it, growl and go'.

Since leaving the racing line two days ago I have made my way through two highs and beat upwind on the northern edge of another to position myself ready to enter the Bass Strait and in the process made only a few measly miles towards Wellington.  I am on the track now and better wind is on its way but I am also hundreds of miles behind where I might have been had I gone south.

It's a tense juxtaposition in my mind. On the one hand I have stretched the amount of time I will be at sea before sailing into Wellington but on the other I have found a seaman-like solution to my issue, thereby ensuring I can complete the challenge of sailing successfully non-stop from Cape Town. That's good right?

However, to have heard the boat cursing this plan yesterday with her many bangs and shakes, cracking noises and percussive reports from the sheet winches and turning blocks- it was clear it was a state of affairs I should avoid at all costs in the future. I also can't help being angry at myself that we had not changed the batteries out in Cape Town but as the readings were ok, who has a thousand pounds hot in their pocket to throw on some new batteries 'just in case' - certainly not us.

There are so many things you could fritter money away on an Eco 60 'just in case' that in the end you realise you just have to be a little fatalistic and take your chances.  Wasn't it Machiavelli in 'The Prince' who noted that once you attempt to secure yourself you realise how insecure you actually are?

Alone on a 60ft boat in the middle of the ocean I tend to steer clear of questioning how secure I actually am - you're never going to get a calming answer from that question - I just confine my efforts to preventative maintenance, damage limitation and at the moment a resigned belief that in the end - surely- we'll get there.


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