News from Team Rocket

Dear All,

Just a quick update from all of us on Rocket.

We left Saturday 4th  under apparently kind conditions with a forewarning that we may have steering problems as the newly replaced steering broke an hour before race start. The departure itself was great with a school of dolphins bidding us farewell.

Shortly after departure we hit heavy winds. The starboard steering broke again around 10:30 that evening and running repairs were effected. 

All the new sailors were overcome with significant sea sickness - not a pretty sight. Gerrie, Gareth and Shin were (are are) the stalwarts. 

Overall it was a truly tough night with minimal sleep and an extreme learning experience. The swells reached close on 10m and the wind was gusting to 35 knots. 

Second day brought another day of sea sick newbies with serious dehydration and unwillingness to eat any food (in spite of the great food from Shin). The starboard steering came loose yet again and running repairs were made. We spent much time on second reef - however this snapped late on the afternoon of 5th. Running repairs took on new meaning with Gareth being halled up the mast in huge winds and rolling seas.

The night of the 5th brought a fresh set of problems. The starboard steering broke a third time. This time we made some "design changes" and have also tried to only use the port steering. We are becoming pretty good at these repairs. 

At 11:30pm Gerrie called "All hands on deck". The main bolt/nut holding the boom in place had come loose (no split pin in the fitting!) and the whole boom collapsed. This took about 4 hours work for the team to fix - with Gareth and Shin showing their absolute star qualities. This was finally fixed in the early hours and we were able to proceed. Of course the sea and wind did not abate while all this happened - quite an extreme midnight experience (significant understatement :)

Monday 6th the swells were throwing us around and combined with a change of course, we managed to tear a hole in the main sail. Can I use the term running repairs again? This took close on 4 hours to repair under very inhospitable conditions.

We have tested our new  water maker - the water appears to be good however we have found it is leaking on the output side. So this has been repaired - we shall find out tomorrow if the repair is effective as the repair will take at least half a day to dry out.

At last all of us have eaten a meal this evening - and appears to be staying down. Next big thing will be a shower - if we can get the water maker working :.

While everyone has contributed there is no doubt this would have been an impossible venture without the true stars - Gerrie, Gareth and Shin.

We are happy to report all is well.

Regards from Mike on behalf of Team Rocket

-------------------------------------------------