LOG DAY 26 : Stormey Weather

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Wed 30 May 2012 23:18
WEDNESDAY  30th  May 2012
 
Ohhhh my gawd, what a wild night last night,
But , BUT ,but, before all that we had dinner on board last night starting off with a selection of  voul-u-vonts
which included prawns, egg ones, and tuna ones, all yum, yum,
This was all followed by roast belly pork, crackling, creamed patatoes, roast stuffing with peppers, carrots,
onions, celery & apple sauce, all local produce,
 
But , what a night, the wind screemed through the rigging as all the boats on our raft grinded together for the entire night,
the flags making a racket as the wind reached 55 knots plus. not to mention the waves lapping against the transome like
someone playing a tune with water.
 
Morning came and we could hear boats on the VHF who were just arriving, having spent the night at sea, poor beggers,
then, one yacht got washed up onto the rocks at the harbour entrance ( not one of ours ) and was rescued by the local tug,
but looking at her later in the travel hoist, the damage was so bad that its unlikely that she will ever go to sea again,
 
The wind & rain during the day was terrifying, we spent most of the morning on board afraid to venture out, then it all eased off 
and the rush ashore was awesome, everyone going in different directions , each with their own agenda, 
Skipper eventually managed to get to a wifi place and look over all his ipad messages, still alive , T.G. having learnt 
of some more friends that have gone down the toilet, (  I mean gone burst ) ohhhh, the whole scene at home is so sad.....
and things are going to get much worse because no one is looking at the overall picture, so each institution ( banks ) are
closing down buisness left right & centre because of the lack of cash flow, and they are the ones that have closed off that vital 
element of cash flow that buisness needs to survive, 
 
Later as Denis, Vera & Skipper made our way to to view the stricken yacht , we bumped into Elane Bunting, .... following
 some small chat, we all made our way up to " Petes Sports cafe" for a few scoops, and of course the place was jointed,
Langers all over the place, some we knew well at this stage and had a laugh, and more scoops,
Then , skipper who was chatting to " Keith " the owner and skipper of  " Sookie " ( our main compition on the trip to here ) 
was none other than the boat we met in Lagos in 2009 ( 50.000 miles ago ) and was owned at the time by John Mc Cann
 from Strangford in Northern Ireland,   gosh, how often do I have to say , " how small is this world, "  Boy oh boy, that boat
gave us the race of our lives, all the way from the BVI,s to the Azores through Bermuda, absolutly fantastic,
 
We eventually made our way back to the boat where skipper cooked " Tuna fish cakes "  yeah, these were very interesting,
A couple of glasses of wine later, we were ready for the scratcher, having had a full and varied day,   
Final words,   How small is this world,  
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed :-    Stephen Hyde  ( skipper )