| Route du Rhum: Kip Stone on Artform's uses rock climing technique to cut down damaged solent |
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| Saturday, 11 November 2006 | |
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Caroline Kurrus: "Once I was up and had finished freeing the solent head from the swivel, I discovered that the knot that held my weight so beautifully on the way up had no intention of sliding back down the way it was supposed to," writes Kip about his latest escapade in the Route du Rhum. At the latest poll, Artform's has hit a slow patch but leads 2nd place Vedettes de Bréhat Cap Marine by 120 miles. Read Kip's latest account and learn how to follow the race below. Two nights ago, I got smacked in the back by a flying fish while I was at the helm. By morning, I'd rescued a half dozen and then cleared the deck of the half dozen who weren't so lucky as to attract my attention. It's getting warmer, no more need for a hat and I'm down to one layer under the oilies. By morning, the breeze had backed down to 20 knots and the seas were beginning to moderate although still more than enough to surf at the right angles. It was still a bit too soon to hoist the kite, so nothing left to do but tackle the one project weighing heavily on my mind and still flapping loudly above my head, the damaged solent. My climbing gear mysteriously vanished off the boat, but fortunately I still had one ascender I sometimes use for freeing sheets under load from the winches. In high school, my friends and I were self-taught rock climbers so I was familiar with the Prusik knot, although I can't remember using it for anything other than scaling the El Capitan's of my imagination. Today, finally, it came to good use, at least on the way up. Once I was up and had finished freeing the solent head from the swivel, I discovered that the knot that held my weight so beautifully on the way up had no intention of sliding back down the way it was supposed to. No time to fool around as I was being violently tossed around, so I clipped myself off with my harness tether I'd brought along and cut myself free. Kind of like those movies where the bomb is about to explode, "red wire or green wire?" Big penalty to pay for getting the wrong one. Then climbing just high enough to free the load on the remaining ascender, then lowering it, I backclimbed my way down using the harness tether as a backup along the way. I don't think I'd actually recommend this as a technique for getting up and down a rig, but it did work and an hour or so later the damaged sail was on the deck and I was on my way again. Now, all that is left is to sail is 1,149 incident-free miles while not giving up too much more of my slim lead. I have conditions ahead where the solent will be sorely missed, but there's nothing I can do about that now other than to maximize my speed while I'm able. Kip Stone Position: 30 52.6N 049 50.1W. Wind: SW 15. Seas: 3-5 ft. Conditions: Clear skies, getting warmer! Guadeloupe: 1,149 nautical miles. www.ksopen50.com www.routedurhum.org. Route du Rhum photos |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 November 2006 ) |
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