Ahoy there! Its been almost 2000 miles since I last
wrote a diary, its absolutely flown by. The mid-way feast was enjoyed, an
abandoned yacht was encountered, a rogue wave was endured, many kinds of
wildlife were spotted (dad reckons even a shark mr cullen!), on top of all that
we’ve been keeping busy with our daily routines, and the time has
literally sailed by. St Lucia
is quickly approaching the horizon (590 to go) and it is hard to decide whether
we’re excited to be reaching the finish line, or getting disappointed for
the same reason. One thing is for certain though, a hot stable shower and an
ice cold beer will be most welcome, I intend to try both simultaneously. We’re
truckin along at about 8 knots now, with a wind speed of up to 30kts, needless
to say we have significantly reefed sails. Last night myself and Jim preformed
a 999 rescue of a flying fish. The victim soared onto the seat beside me before
flopping onto the toe rail. The wind was rip roaring so we had to harness in
before releasing the poor chap. He made it, and jim swears that he leapt out of
a wave to give us a wave and show its gratitude. The swell we first encountered
a few days ago has maintained its strength and vigorous washing machine motion,
so we’re beginning to wonder if we’ll simply topple over when we
stand on terra firma once more. There was one particular wave we encountered
last night that when we reached its peak it had a 20-25 foot near vertical drop.
I’ll be perfectly honest with you, no yachtmaster tricks were attempted, we
simply closed our eyes and just hoped to god that Oyster Yachts had designed
Blue Fox to fly! Since we left Las Palmas
one of the most enjoyable things to do during a night watch is to watch the
depth sounder. It generally sits on whatever the last reading was, as we are
drifting above thousands of metres of water, but every now and then is flashes
to some ridiculous depth such as 5 metres, it then continually drops until it
reaches 0.6ish at which point whoever the culprit was vanishes, the imagination
stirs up brilliant theories that help to pass long night watch hours. Everyone
is beginning to stir, and the day that has dawned is quite overcast, promising
to work each of us as we take our turns helming. Anyway I best get back to my
game of shuffle board and dreaming of rum punch and steel drums
Dave
9/12/05
14’38N 50’51W
