White Knuckler

We were finally able to fly the spinnaker starting Saturday morning. The spinnaker is the large, colorful balloon- shaped sail that we use when the wind is behind us. Half of the crew has experience flying "the kite" in breezy and lumpy conditions. The other half of us............not so much! Steering a sailboat in the dark while riding waves and being pulled along by a mountain of sail is challenging to say the least.
Well I, Bigfoot, really pulled a humdinger last night. Skies were cloudy and the wind was blowing between 15 and 20 knots. I was nearing the end of my one- hour gig at the wheel when all Hell broke loose. Did I get complacent or was it just fatigue, either way I let the bow of the boat fall off the wind too far letting the kite dance out of control. For those of you that sail you can appreciate this: The spinnaker wrapped around the headstay AND foreguy several times. The chances of getting the sail back on deck without damage appeared slim. With Jeff's help, I was able to wrassle the beast down.
After 15 minutes of cleanup we were back at full speed, careening across the ocean with the only damage being that I had earned a new nickname "Crash".

It's strange to be in the middle of the ocean for days, seven of us on this 40 foot oasis. We're having a great time and we're NOT as stinky as we thought we would be! Truly amazing to be curled up in a bunk sleeping like a KITTEN while so much is going on around me (snoring, screaming, laughing and playful bickering).
We're currently in third place with aspirations of running down the two in front.
Chris