So how has your Saturday morning started? A leisurely wake up…coffee in bed?

Mine went like this:

3.30am….wake up call from the on watch ‘time to get up’

Dress in my bunk then jump down into the gangway. Boots and jacket on then it’s find my foulies in the wet locker. Pull them on, add life jacket then hat and gloves. Various ‘good morning’s’ to my fellow watch.

Right…up on deck. It’s 3.48am.

‘Buon giorno’ I offer to the on watch as I exit the stairway from the galley. I check to see if it’s raining….nope.

‘Morning DL’ is the response from various crewmembers.

I wait for Adrian who has exited before me to climb up to the high side.

‘Morning Nigel….how’s it going?’

‘Morning DG’

‘Morning JR…..any helming?’

I work my way to the back of the boat. DW is on the helm and Nigel H behind him.

‘How’s it going guys?’

I stand behind the helming station looking at the numbers on the instrument binnacles in front of DW. I look to see how hard he’s working the helming wheel.

Others on my watch are filling up the pit area as they file up from below.

‘Ok…so what are we aiming at?’

’45 course over ground, 150 degree wind angle’

It’s 3.58am. I attach my tether to the high side of the helming station and then lift this over the back behind DW.

‘OK….you want me to take over now and you can go and get some sleep?’

DW exits on the high side.

‘Got it’ as I take the wheel.

I settle my feet.

The boat veers to the left 10 degrees and I turn the wheel to counter the movement. The wheel has a binding covering 90 degrees left and right of centre and extra binging on the centre point so you can tell where this is just by touch.

The new watch are taking up their positions and the previous on watch slowly make their way below.

The sky is light but cloudy. A rose tinge colours below some of the cloud on my left. The wind is slightly behind the boat coming over my left shoulder.

We have the main sail set out over the right hand rail of the boat and a number 2 spinnaker up.

Surf time!

The wind is gusting between 16 and 22 knots and we have swell coming at us from our rear port quarter.

As the boat heels over to the right a fulmar glides past effortlessly on the wind just above the ocean’s surface below me.

Back here I can hear the rushing of the back draught of water stirred up by the boat. It sounds like a constant waterfall.

Standing on the helm gives a very different feel to being in the pit area. In the pit area there is no rushing waterfall and the boat feels more stable due to its halfway between front and back position.

On the helm you feel like you’re standing on a mountain and as the swell picks the boat up you feel as if you are about to charge down or into the back of the wave in front of you. It’s a very odd perspective.

So surf time. The swell and wind pick up the boat and it’s now me versus the elements to steer the course as set.

I’m watching the bow and the horizon beyond to judge the movement of the boat. I’m glancing at the instruments every 15 to 20 seconds to check course. I’m moving the helm right or left to counter the direction of the bow. Sometimes the movement is swift one way and then the other, sometimes it’s slower, sometimes I’m just holding it in one place as the boat surfs and then sometimes it’s hard over. You get a feel for the boat as it bucks and heels and today with the wind and the swell it’s a bit full on and I can feel the effort I’m putting into it on my upper left arm.

3.24am and the swell and a gust catch the boat in my left. We heel over hard right. I’m leaning on the wheel, hard right. I’m off the wheel binding now. I’m beyond 90 degrees. We’re doing 12.5 knots.

The spinnaker starts to collapse.

A combination of the wave action and the wind getting on the front of the spinnaker edge and and creating more force on the front of the spinnaker than there is on the inside of the sail.

We’re at a 142 degree wind angle as we ride down a wave.

The spinnaker is attached to the bottom of the boat and top of the mast and then we have a working sheet (rope) we can control the spinnaker with from inside the cockpit.

‘Grind’ calls Adrian.

2 crewmembers spin the grinder in the cockpit to pull in the back of the spinnaker. This takes the pressure off the front edge and the spinnaker inflates again.

150 degree wind angle…..back on course.

No panic in the boat. No concerns. This is teamwork and we carry on.

3.28am. ‘Ah good timing’ says Jerry as he comes to do his half hour shift on the helm.

He attaches his tether to the high side, loops it over the back of the helming station and behind me.

‘What are we steering?’

’45 degrees course over ground. 150 degrees wind angle

‘Ok, got it’

I let go of the wheel and exit left.

Sitting on front of the helming station I watch the ocean as the morning goes by. The waterfall sound is gone.

5.15am Lambo has made tea and coffee. My first cup of the day.

‘Thanks’

At 7.30am my 3rd and final helming duty is over for this watch. All good and clocked up a surf of 16.3 knots. Not bad for this wind.

How is your Saturday morning going? Another coffee or something else?