CALISO Friday 30th Nov
CALISO
Mark
Fri 30 Nov 2007 13:14
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well it's just amazing how much can happen on a
little boat in the middle of nowhere in a 24 hour period. let's see how
much i can remember. we caught our first fish yesterday and i promised a
photo, well..... we then caught our second which made us think our first was a
yellow finned tuna (albeit with spots!) because the 2nd was a dorada and the
biggest we've caught so far on this trip and last trip. probably enough to
feed us all tonight. but that wasn't until later. we baked the first
fish and had it with a salad nicoise without the eggs and anchovies and without
tuna for lunch, but it was a lovely light nourishing meal. everyone agrees
we are all probably eating healthier than we normally do at home. washed
down with a glass of rosada and beer for some. tomatoes are keeping well
but the fruit will soon all be gone except the lemons which will hopefully keep
the scurvy at bay!
we spent the afternoon lazing around and
reading. mark and dave took the fishing reel to pieces and then put it
back together again - as you do. kept them happy for over an hour.
it still doesn't work properly unfortunately so we put out two bungee lines and
just left the fishing rod. we took vacuum packed frozen steaks out and
mark cooked a delicious supper and we are all still not sure how he managed to
magic up some rice as well as fresh carrots (peeled by dave and cut by becky -
team effort at its best) and steak in cream sauce on only two gas positions as
the pans were so big. anyway it was another good healthy tasty meal and
that's the carrots gone. our meal planning tends to be around what needs
using up next before it goes off!! we had just finished when the dolphins
arrived - pods from all directions. becky immediately announced that she
wanted to get eye-contact with a dolphin and shot off to the bow where she was
shortly followed by lisa. unfortunately i was so busy watching all the
dolphins jump and generally entertain us that i didn't get my camera because the
two girls hanging off the bow would have made a lovely photo.
unfortunately becky didn't get eye contact, but they were with us quite a while
as the sun was going down and it was a beautiful half hour or so. a
real magic moment.
the next excitement was when an absolutely huge
shark took out one of our bungee lines - not only did it get charlie the lure
and the line, but ripped the bungee right off the deck as well. we are all
thinking "jaws" at least, but if we are honest, we didn't actually see any
dorsel fins but in our hearts we knew it was a big shark. becky started to
worry in case charlie had been swallowed by a dolphin and that the dolphin might
be hurt- she said a little prayer that this wasn't the case, but the general
consensus was that dolphins are too clever to do that. so we cleared up
and the night shifts started.
first bob and becky who had a quiet time of
it. mark and i on the 12-4am had two squalls and lots of rain and wind
gusting up to 32k and then disappearing to nothing in the eye of the
squall. we then put two reefs in the main in case any more came through
when dave and lisa arrived on deck and i went to bed. well it might just
as well have been a rollercoaster for all the sleep i or anyone else got for the
next hour. the main with the 2 reefs in is just the right height to get
caught in the spreader when the boom is too far out and of course, this happened
after a gybe. of course our guys (and lisa) sorted it out and luckily the
sail was fine and another lesson was learnt.
i saw my first shooting star last night - the moon
didn't come up til 1am and the clouds kept it dark so it was optimal for seeing
one. a bright spot on an otherwise tiring and strenuous night. still
this morning lisa and dave caught another yellow finned tuna so we are planning
curried rice salad and fish for tonight and maybe even for lunch again if we
catch some more. i will attach our big dorada photo as opposed to the one
promised yesterday which was much smaller.
my son nils sent us the positions of each of the
ARC boats and we don't seem to be doing too badly, just outside the top
100. we hope to make it inside that 100, fingers crossed. we had a
great sail yesterday and for most of the night with loads of 7.5-8k. one
point in the night mark and i had 8.9k briefly and then 1.5k!! such is
life.
the aft head (back toilet) is playing up and now
only in commission for number ones. i know, ....too much
information. but as mark says, no real worry because if the forward one
goes too we have got plenty of buckets (silent scream for help from
writer!!).
we have been sent news from the ARC organizers that
one boat has been boarded by two illegal immigrants and that we should
all be alert and as we all know - Britain needs lerts. hopefully we
are now too far out but we are always watching and alert anyway. also,
some bad news of someone getting burnt with boiling water and having to be taken
off their boat. just last night mark was saying that we needed to be
really careful with the large pans as we cannot hold them in place with the pot
clamps. so we have now decided that all cooking involving boiling
water will only be done with thick trousers and shoes. these things are
easily done and we all feel for that poor person who was burnt. hopefully
they will get treatment quickly.
i'll sign off now before i send you all to sleep.
wonder what excitement today will bring?!?!?! jan x
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