Fw: LOG DAY 13 :- Happy Bunnies sailing once more,

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 18 May 2012 18:35
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 4:35 PM
Subject: LOG DAY 13 :- Happy Bunnies sailing once more,

THURSDAY  17th  MAY  2012
 
Here we are , back at sea once more and enjoying a pleasent day,
We sailed out of Bermuda yesterday at 13.00hrs, but first a recap on events since the last blog no. 7
composed and typed on Friday the 11th,
 
SATURDAY 12th :-
A bright sunny day, but ponds of water everywhere following the deluge yesterday,
Skipper had to leave the boat for a few days on the  buisness of remaining in buisness, but the others
Tom & Linda, Aileen , Denis & Vera had a great day, Off to the Royal Bermuda YC for lunch and a tour of
Hamilton, the capitol of Bermuda,
Aileen , Denis & Vera did the " Swizzle Inn " on their way back to the boat while Tom & Linda had a lovers
night out together, Ohhh, so sweet,
 
SUNDAY 13th :-
Tom & Linda flew back to their home in N.Y. early sunday morning while Aileen got to Mass in the local church.
Later in the day Aileen , Denis & Vera toddled over to the YC and collected our prizes for 1st boat home
and 1st in our class,
Did you know that Bermuda ( apart from being a tax haven) was one of the worlds largest Onion producers,
and as a result was known as the " Onion Basket"  Well, our prize for first boat to reach Bermuda was
a basket of " Onions"   We are still scratching our heads and wondering the significance of this gift !
 
However, we are happy bunnies once again,
 
MONDAY 14th :-
A, D & V, went to the local supermarket and topped up the food supplies for the next leg to the " Azores "
a distance of over 1,800 miles , we estimate it will take us 10 days to reach the Azores.
Monday night , the 3 " A Lady" muskateers went to the Wahoo Restaurant for dinner and had a great time
with many of the crews from the other boats, while skipper was looking for the tree where the money
now grows, ( extract from ancient saying of the "old man"  BOY !  do you think money grows on tree's ! )
 
 
TUESDAY 15th  :-
The 3 Musketeers explored the Island,  and were invited to Hugh & Debbie O' Donnells house for
dinner that evening, They had a great evening / night at O'Donnells who live in a great big mansion overlooking
St Gorges Bay, Skipper , meanwhile not having found the tree ( but planted a slow growing one )  is on his way back to the baot,
 
WEDNESDAY 16th :-   D Day,
A LADY had a visit from the Chief Radio Officer in Bermuda, A Cprk man himself,
11.00hrs, Skipper took all the documents to Customs and cleared out,  
12.00hrs, Voyaguer slipped out from our port side and we followed a few minutes later,
Trying to manouver a 56 foot , 35 ton yacht off a dock confined bow & stern is an art all in itself
but after 3 years at sea, skipper has mastered this difficult manouvre. ( God, the spelling does not look right )
 
13.00hrs  The hooter sounded and off we went on our next leg to the Azores, It was a tight squeeze with all
the boats going out throught the cut & channel ,
The wind was SE about 6 /8 knots so we motor sailed for a couple of hours untill we found the wind NE of the Island ,
The sea's became rough and confused and led to a miserable 1st day at sea, Even skipper felt sick, and had to
resort to sea sick tablets before cooking a pizza for evening dinner, ohhhh, tough stuff,
 
We had prepared ourselves for a spinniker trip , so all the sheets and guys were on deck along with the spinniker
but later we removed the lot and parked the " Bag of Fear "  ( spinniker ) down below as it became evident that
this would notr be required, well, not for a few days anyway, we had a fetch to our 1st way point..... 569 miles NE
 
By 19.00hrs we were trucking along like the nearly sick bunnies we are, at 8 / 9 knots,
Our watches will be  20.00hrs  ...............  00.00hrs  S & A
                              00.00hrs ..................04.00hrs   D & V
                              04,00hrs...................08.00hrs   S & A
The watches will be reversed every other night,
Skipper , none the less crashed out in the cockpit and left A to do the first 4hr watch,
 
LOG DAY 13
WEDNESDAY  17th :-
 
00.00hrs Skipper crawled into the Stb cabin and went to sleep for a couple of hours,
A rough night , but skipper was feeling much better when he arose from the bunk,
Aileen purchased a new pair of white shorts for Skipper in Bermuda, but not for today, and very definatly will
not be allowed wash them either,
It reminds skipper of the storey of Aileens brother Paul ( senator)  who was asked by the mother Peggy to dry the dishes
whan he was in his early teens, (This shows a genius in the making )  Paul, shocked at being asked to do such a menial
task as dry the dishes, thought for a moment, then picked up one of Peggy's best pieces of China and dropped it on the floor,
Of course it smashed into a million bits, BUT, But, but Paul was never asked again in his life to dry the dishes,
 
09.45hrs, Skipper had a chat with Voyaguer before the Radio Roll Call at 10.00hrs
It is difficult to relate our position with the rest of the fleet as not all boats have an SSB radio, However we could see
one boat " Sookie" on our port side abour 2 miles away and 2 more boats on the horizon behind us,
We are sailing well and fast, but obviously not fast enough that a 54 foot boat is getting the better of us,
perhaps its not just our day......
 
12.00hrs  ( 23 hrs at sea, )  we have covered a distance of 210 miles over ground, thats good going for us,  
 
We all took naps during the day and recovered from the first night at sea,
Skip, cooked dinner around 18.00hrs   " Bangers & mustard Mash "  this included a pair of sausages each,
one pork and one beef, boiled first and then placed on the roasting tin which had a layer of stuffing on the bottom
and then had plenty of Onion chunks, Cloves of Garlic, carrots, broccoli, & apple wedges,  yummy, yummie,
Of course in these rolly conditions, we had to resort to eating out of our big green " Doggie Bowl's "
a great way of keeping the food from sliding off th plate or using other bowl's that would just simply roll over,
spilling all the food over the light clothes , bare skin and frilly knickers,    
 
Later , after some remembering and stories about Bermuda, we got into the night watches,
the seas have moderated and the sailing is comfortable once more,
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed  :-   Stephen Hyde  ( Skipper )