Surfing ou way around the world, ( presently at sea between Coco'S Islands and Maritius, )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 4 Oct 2010 05:32
|
SUNDAY 3rd OCTOBER
2010 ( Day 7 at Sea )
Total distance from Coco's Islands to
Maritius...........................................2,313 n miles
Distance travelled to
date........................................................................1,250
n miles
Distance to destination
.......................................................................... 1,063
n miles
09.00hrs Radio Net :-
operators of the radio today is " Lady Eve " and most boats responded giving
their current positions,
Again today, we have made ground on all boats in
the fleet.
10.00hrs We reefed more sail as the wind
increased. We were now past 1/2 way to our ultimate destination of " Port Louis
" Mauritius.
progress was excellent, having averaged just over
200 miles per day since we left the Coco's Islands , last monday.
Aileen broke a tooth, but TG, it is not causing any
grief at present.
When all was settled down, we set up a goose
winging arrangment on board again, The geneo out on the spinniker pole to
port,
with the Main and Staysail out to starboard,
The Staysail plays a great role here, as it helps
keep the boat much more stable than it would otherwise be ......................
Keep it in tight if necessary.
Midday , we had a light snack , as we tend to eat
diner during mid afternoon, This fits in much better with our routine and we
eat in daylight.
Shortly after, we spotted a pod of Minke Whales
diving through the massive waves, they were surfing down inside the front
of the waves
very close to the boat and it truley was a
magnificant sight, They remained around the boat for at least 25
minutes,
Minke Whales :- Length 32' to 35'
depending if male or female, the female being the larger of the
two.
Weight, .......................20,000 lbs ( 9,200
kg)
There are a number of different species of Minke
whale, including the " Dwarf Minke Whale, and the Antartic Minke Whale,
both of which
inhabit these waters at this time of the year and
are known to swim alongside yachts , mostly out of curousity,
These are obviously what we saw beside and around
us,
These Whales look much more like huge Dolphins than
our impression of what a Whale looks like, and are coloured dark grey on
top with white undersides. Their swimming in the waves , again was much
more like the way Dolphins swim around the boat.
16.00hrs Dinner today consists of
Bangers and Mash with baked beans, so whats new, except the bangers
( sausages ) were
australian beef ones and lamb ones, now they were
big bangers and while the were cooking , skipper noticed a blister on one of
them,
Ahhh sure, I will poke that with the sharp knife, well I'LL be damned, the bloody
thing spat out a huge squirt of fat , out across the cooker,
across the spice rack, up over the port hole and
across the ceiling, the fat was everywhere...
Idiotttttttt, ohhhhhhh feck , ahhhhhhhhhh !
blinkin hell, it took longer to clean up the mess
than dinner took to cook.
Try and do all this while holding onto your pants
as the boat rolls voilently from side to side. the crown jewls could get damaged
here very quickly.
But in the end , It all tasted great,,
The great about feeding the crew one good meal
a day is, They are ravenous by the time they get fed and appreciate
anything served up,
even if half of it is still on the
ceiling......
This will be known as the day the Bangers spat
back.........................................................
Later, as the wind began its cycle upwards and now
blowing 36knots + we surfed down a wave an the incredible speed of 14.9
kknots.
the best we ever had before was 14 when we were
doing the ARC,, now these flashes of speed only last seconds
and have only occured
2 or 3 times in the last 23,000 miles.
However, what makes this event interesting is we
were well reefed down, with more than 2 reef's in all sails.
21.00hrs, We covered 112 miles in the last 12
hours,, great going and most unlikely to ever be repeated. again
well reefed down.
Night watches :-
22.00hrs /
00.00hrs....................................Skipper
00.00hrs
/ 02.00hrs....................................Neil
02.00hrs /
04.00hrs....................................Terry
04.00hrs /
06.00hrs....................................Aileen
06.00hrs /
08.00hrs....................................Skipper
Thats it for now. from surfers
paradise.
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
|