ARC+ 2018 Day 4 – Written by Helen

You can never have enough power all the friends that have gone cruising before us said – and they couldn’t be more right.
With no sun (has anyone told it that we are of the coast of Africa?) the wind turbines can’t satisfy the greedy autopilot.
So on with the generator – until it tripped. As the reset switch is buried in the port lazarette and the sea remains rolly the skipper has passed on climbing in and it’s on with the engine twice a day to keep the batteries charged – still hot water is a very nice side effect.
One way you can have too much power is while Parasailor wrangling. It’s gloriously stable and fast in lighter winds but in our first squall the boat apparently thought it was a competitor in a downhill slalom on Ski Sunday (remember that?). I didn’t think with all this extra kit on board she was capable of doing 12.5 knots but there you go! The tack lines are now pulled down pronto whenever the telltale clouds appear.
The crew dynamic is working really well and we have settled into a comfortable rhythm and just nearing our halfway point.
Top Tip of the Day – don’t let your skipper persuade you to snuggle yourself into a sleeping bag to have a siesta in the cockpit – it will lead to a slightly painful and very undignified slide to the floor as Seth and me discovered. Although the skipper claims he was just trying to make sure we were comfortable.

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