Sailing around the World ( presently crossing the " Arafura Sea " Northern Australia, )
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Sat 21 Aug 2010 12:28
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SATURDAY 21st AUGUST
2010
03.30hrs We have covered 285 miles so far,
and its another beautifull night at sea,
The - KITE - pulling us along at an average 9
knots for the last 3 hours, the moon is shining brightly up there high in the
sky.
and the boat is as steady as a rock. what
more could one ask !
04.00hrs The moon went to moonbed, so we are
left with just the stars twinkling up there, Niall was still on deck and said it
was the best nights
sail he ever had. We almost had to unscrew
him from the deck and make him go to the scratcher.
It is truly fantastic to visit all these out of the
way places, places we never heard of in our lives,, the first we ever heard of
Thursday Isl. was when we decided to do this trip and recieved the itenary...
but to think there is :- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday Islands as
well, well how about that,
One could spend a few years just exploring the
whole barrier reef and the northern areas of Australia. as they say,
" real cool "
When the Moon went to bed, The phospherous really
began to show in the water,,, much brighter than we have seen for a long,long
time,
it was so bright, it was like streamers floating
past the boat, all being pushed out by the large bow wave. and bubbling up
behind
the boat as we sailed merrily along through
the night.
At one stage a whole shoal of fish moved silently
through the phospherous away from the boat,, the only time the skipper saw
this before
was in 1970 when sailing in a race from "
Statin Island " in N.Y harbour to " Atlantic City " in New Jersey. The shoal of
fish was like a
glowing field moving across the sea,,,
a real rare sight.
Then there were the shadows being cast down
the kite by the tricolour lights at the top of the mast. it resembled a stage
set.
silent and eerie...
The wind was still blowing at 20 / 22 knots on our
port sideat 120 degrees ,
2 ships passed us during the night, their big empty
hulls like shadows on the horizon motoring along at about 15 knots and off to
collect their
dirty black gold.
05.15hrs we have travelled 300 miles. and
have another 296 miles to our first waypoint off Coburg Point. in the Dundas
Straight.
09.00hrs,, Radio time, but we dont have
contact and have gone too far away from the fleet for VHF
communication.
10,30hrs Just beautifull sailing, in a
moderate sea, Mary saw a large sea snake, brown with yellow bands ,,
12.35hrs We have travelled 362 n miles
in 48 hours, 192 of these in the last 24 hrs.
14.00hrs we had a light lunch prepared by
Aileen, followed by lots of naps and sunburning periods.
18.35 hrs We have now covered 415 miles
in 2 days and 6 hrs, ( 204 miles in the last 24 hrs, ) and exactly
half way to our destination.
The setting sun was truly magnificant, we all just
sat there and absorbed the whole scene. wonderfulll.
Aileen did a spagetti dish for dinner, and it was
excellent,
this was followed with lots of chat, and
calculating our arrival time in Darwin.
Our watches for tonight
:- 21.00hrs /
03.00hrs Stephen & Aileen
03.00hrs / 09,00hrs Niall &
Mary
Thats it for today
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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