LOG DAY 19 :: Brass Monkies

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 23 May 2012 19:35
WEDNESDAY  23rd  MAY  2012
 
Brrrrr, brrrrrr, brrrrr, Its blooming freezing here, clear skies, 10 knots of wind from the NNW
and a bumpy sea, ohhhh , its so cold and its only 18.oohrs now,  
We all have the winter woolies on at this stage and the nights are so cold its like being in the Antartic.
 
Distance to our destination :--  416 miles
Distance travelled   :-             1,474 miles
 
We are lead boat at present, but that really means nothing, the final results will depend a lot on the
amount of motoring each boat has done over the trip. however, so far we only used the engine on
our way out of Bermuda. but will have to use it a lot over the next couple of days as the wind is expected
to go very light,
 
TUESDAY  22nd MAY   ( yesterday )
The morning was cloudy and we had a good breeze over 22 knots from the NW,
We also had an adverse current of 2 knots, In fact we have had an adverse current almost the
entire journey so far,  That alone would make a differance of + or - 48 miles a day depending on
wether the current is with us or against us,
 
By evening time, the wind had increased and the seas were very rough plus a big swell of 6m ,
 
All we could see at times was these huge walls of water towering over us, but up we went and slid down the other side,
Despite the conditions, skipper managed a spegetti bolognaise for dinner , served in our " doggy bowls"
A great invention , and soo usefull on the boat in these rough conditions,
 
It was a wild night, well where we were anyway, S & A had the first watch , D& V were on watch from 00.00hrs
to 04.00hrs, and then S & A again from 04.00hrs to 08.00hrs,
 
WEDNESDAY  23 MAY  ( today )
 
05.10hrs Skipper was on the bow sorting out some ropes and things when the fishing rod sprang into life,
whrrrrrr, whrrrrr, whrrrrr,  Oh my golly gosh , a bloody fish now at this hour of the day and Denis in the scratcher,
Skipper shot back the deck and grabbed the rod,
He is big enough and with about 100m of line it took a lot of reeling to get him to the boat,
Its difficult to know if skipper or the fish was more exhausted by the time we landed this specimen Tuna on board,
We recon he weighed about 16Lbs..  and a fantastic catch,
 
The claening on the aft deck was a messy affair, but at the end of it all, we had 18 beautifull cuts of TUNA
we put most away into the deep freeze and kept enough out for dinner tonight, which is shortly,
Then we used 300L of water cleaning the decks of blood & guts, yuch, and by the end of it all, one would never
have known that this was a fish shop a short while earlier.
 
The seas flattened out for a few hours and then got rough again, even though the wind is still very light,
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed  :-  Stephen Hyde   ( Skipper )