" A LADY TRIP " Sailing around the World ( today we leave Equador for the Gapapagos Islands)

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 19 Feb 2010 04:54
THURSDAY 18th FEBRUARY 2010
 
07.00hrs  Up and at it, for today we leave this place and delighted to do so'
And guess what, yeap , its pissing cats and dogs,
We went to the Yacht Club and had a coffee,
 
08.30 We got a taxi to the shopping centre, ( about 2 miles ) to top up the veg and fruit.
Of course the bleedin place dident open till 09.00hrs and we were as wet as a bunch of langers thrown into the river in a sack of spud's
Anyway we got our goods and the skipper managed to get a metric no 17 spanner to replace the one that vanished out of his tool box in crosshaven.
 
09.30hrs We arrieved back to the boat, loaded the goods on board and immidiatly set about preparing to leave,
First we put the rib back into the water and then lifted it out on the derricks at the back end of the boat.
We then untied ourselves from the Marina and with the help of the bloke's in the punt, untied the bow lines from the bouys out in the center
of the harbour basin,( which was pritty small ) and we headed over to the Fuel Dock.
 
10.30 we were tied up loading on the deisel (  we took 550L or approx 120 US gls. our total capacity is 1040L or one ton)
Christ ! the area around the fuel berth was covered with floating deisel and thick brown gunge, yeach   yeach
 
12.00hrs  ( midday) we started the next leg . heading west towards the Galapagos in a light 8 knot breeze,
There was a big swell running , but we were first over the starting line and we were thrilled with our tactics.
However on a 520 mile trip, it really doesent matter a shite where one starts, but we still think we are the best out there.
 
15.30hrs The wind was still very light and the 4 catamaranes on our starboard side were now motoring and their headsails rolled up.
 
18.30hrs, The breeze picked up and now we had 15knots of wind and sailing along at 7.8 knots
the wind being about 35 degrees on our port side, Smashing sailing,
Fats cooked a pork chop dinner with spuds , cabbage, apple sauce and gravy, plus roast oranges and boiled white onions, How about that !.
 
The Skipper got the blog up to date while Aileen did the washup,
The night watches are tonight:-    20,00hrs  to 00,00hrs   Stephen and Aileen
                                                00.00hrs  to 04.00hrs    Fat's
                                                04.00hrs to  08.00hrs    Kevin
 
23.00hrs The wind at 40 degrees on port was up to 17 knots and we are sailing along 8 knots
The moon was in the early stages of developing and was shimmering across the sea,
The phospherous from the wake of the boat was so bright, it reflected the stars in the sky,  just magic sailing.
 
It brings back memories of sailing " Bunty " in overnight races from Crosser to Baltimore or Schull
Tony Ryan, Joe Hawes, Rom , Jim keoghan , Dave oRielly and others from time to time, braving the wild west on a light gaff rigged boat
without a compass, lights , charts, ( we hardly knew what they were ) or an engine,  No such thing as railings or life jackets for that matter
and amazingly enough , we survived,  Today health and saefty would lock us up if we tried that in these P. feckin  C times.
Oh , the " Bunty " leaked like a sive as well, just to keep us on our toe's
 
Anyway, thats it for today.
 
Signed :-    Stephen Hyde  ( skipper )