Flying Fish
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Thu 7 Dec 2006 12:59
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Hello Friends
"20:02.15N
42:47.09W"
A few things to report today.
We found a flying fish in the sprayhood and
another landed in the cockpit. As I type the second one is being recycled as
bait on our long line. We really do need a tuna...
The Kemp spinnaker finally gave in when the
autopilot switched off (software problem I think - it happens occasionally) so
the boat rounded up and the webbing on the clew burst spectacularly. No problem
though - should be easily repaired in Antigua.
We also enhance the towgen (see previous
blogs) by replacing the standard towing line with about 25 metres of
marlowbraid. This has the advantage that Marlowbraid has a 3-strand core, the
lay of which fortunately tightens up with the twist of the turbine so it doesn't
knot up as the braid-on-braid line did. OK, so this was a great improvement, so
great in fact that we bust the 10A fuse in the charging circuit which we
eventually replaced at 0300 this morning. We might see if it is acceptable to
fit a larger fuse here as the towgen is the mainstay of power provision on this
sort of run.
So let's have another crew profile.
Number Two
Arthur (Barny) Darby
Arthur is distinguished as the only crew
member (other than skippy) with the strength of character to wear a sarong on
board (very suitable for the latitude). He sailed with us (or rather motored)
from Corsica to Menorca at the end of the Summer. Despite that he still wanted
to cross the pond with us and between then and joining us in Tenerife he has
also done a world tour, including trekking in Nepal. He's dinghy sailed for ages
and converted to sailing yachts when working with Neilson in the Med. during
Summer Vac.
Arthur lives in Surrey and graduated from
Cambridge last Summer with a degree in Physics. This trip (and the world tour of
course) represents a last enjoyment of freedom before he succumbs to a life of
slavery in January (OK, starts a new job!).
As you may remember from the photos in the
September blogs, Arthur is the resident boffin and in charge of
astro-navigation. To date his most accurate sightings have been accurate to
within one mile of latitude and two miles of longitude. Anyone who knows
anything about astro-nav will appreciate that this is pin-point accuracy. His
sightings and other records will form part of his Yachtmaster Ocean assessment
which he hopes to attain in April next year.
Arthur has the poshest camera on board - as
shown yesterday taking a pic of the bow wave. Fortunately Arthur's camera is
digital so we can all share the pics, unlike Ben's steam driven film model when
we expect film to be developed before the end of the decade,
possibly.
At 6 foot 6, (198cm) he's the tallest
crewmember and has improvised a berth extension. He is currently (well not
exactly at the moment, but..) looking for a car in which he can comfortably
commute to work. So if any blog readers are in the car business and need any
testing done...
Arthur's message: "The world belongs
not to the person who says that the glass is half full, but to the one who says,
that's not my glass, mine was full and it was a BIGGER glass."
Best Wishes
George, Michael and the crew
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