Eating our way around the World ( Presently at sea, from Reunion Island to South Africa, )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 1 Nov 2010 08:50
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SUNDAY 31st October
2010 Day 2 at Sea.
Our first waypiont is about 30 miles south
east of Madagascar,
Madagascar is the 4th largest Island in the
World, We are still trying to find ou what the other 3
are.
It is thought that this Island was part of the
African continant originally, but drifted apart over the centuries,
The political scene there is fragile and
yachts are discouraged from visiting the Island,
Meanwhile, back on the boat,
01.00hrs ( Skippers watch ) A clear
night and a Harvest 1/2 moon appeared over the eastern horizon,
This gave us a lovely shimmering reflection across
the sea and helped light up the place in general.
The wind was NNW 8k and we were scooting
along at 6.6knots with the blue spinniker flying, mind ouy, we were
also
sailing away south of our rum line. ( a
straight line from Reunion to our waypiont ) at this stage we were just 30
miles
south of this line.
This did not bother us too much, as the wind is
forecast to go SE later in the week, so we will be able to climb back to the rum
line quickly
when that occurs.
04.00hrs The wind dropped to 5 knots, from
the NNW so we dropped the " Bag of fear " on the deck and motor sailed
.
Still a beautifull night to be at sea, Flat seas
and almost no wind ,
09.00hrs Radio call. It became clear
that most boats, with the exception of " Brown eyed Girl " and " Tucannon
" had motored
during the night and now there were 10 boats ahead
of us.
The weather was still very good and we were sailing
again with a 11.5knot NW breeze over
our starboard side, on a course
over ground of 225 T degrees. We had all sails
flying and making 6 knots, This was with a 2 knot current across us and
slightly into us as well .
Its not often that we sail on a starboard
tack, ie , the wind over the right hand side of the boat.
90% of this trip , we have had the wind over the
Port side of the boat , ie the left hand side of the boat as you look
forward.
11.00hrs,,
Distance travelled in 24 hours,
...............................................153 miles
Distance to the
waypoint........................................................412 miles
Later, we got more plastic on the fishing line, but
we have missed 3 good fish so far, and this was due more to our own
fishing technique
than anything else.
15.00 hrs, The wind reached a good 15 knots , and
we were making good progress,
Skipper put on the Dinner, today we are going
to have dinner early, in daylight and warm sunshine,
Dinner today consists of more pork chops, peas,
carrots, and potatoes,
This all took 1 1/2 hours to prepare and
cook. and it was woulfed down by a pack of hungry crew.. the trouble with
giving too much food
at night is, everyone wants to go to sleep straight
away, soooooo like, who wants to do the first watch ! any
takers. bloody silence,
so lets get the food over early. and keep the crew
awake.
Its a good job there is no drinking at sea,
otherwise there could be a mutiny on board.....................
17.30 We hooked a big fish, this time he was well
and truly hooked, A big fish , the rod was straining under the pressure
and the fish jumped high out of the water many
times, as we played him along. It looked like a glue tuna, but we were not
totally
sure of this. We let him run, and would
then slowley reel him in, and repaeted this for a long periode before the
line eventually snapped
and off he went laughing at our best blooming
efforts............
We had a relaxing time as the boat sailed along
into the dark , with all sails drawing nicely, a tight
stb. fetch,
There was a lot of shipping traffic about and this
went on all through the night, so a carefull look out was always necessary,
and of course we could se everything on the
radar. Our A.I.S . seems to have gone to sleep for the moment.
Thats all for today , from the over fed
gang.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde ( Skipper
)
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