15:33.80N 40:25.70W

Two drifters, off to see the world
Anthony Good
Wed 9 Jan 2013 21:33

Day 12 at sea

Another day, another fish.

 

No dramas in the last 24 hours:  Terminator 2 (our autohelm) has been behaving himself, Heads not exploding, (lavatory to you, not our heads, see previous blog for details), water consumption under control so we no longer need to recycle our sweat, batteries charging, and we’re mastering the art of using our pole, not for dancing but stopping our genoa from going floppy.  It can be lonely out here and we taken to giving names to our bits and pieces.  Towed generator is Mr Toad, Autohelm is Terminator 2, our generator in that well known actor, Henry Honda and maybe we should call our pole Viagra.

We’ve settled really well into our daily routine and now most of us know where to find a pack of milk and a fruit juice.  We set out with 60 litres of milk, 100x250ml fruit juices, 80 cans of non-alcoholic beer, 200ltrs of bottled water and enough flour to bake a loaf every day, and that’s just the start.  Every nook and cranny, under the sole (floor boards) and behind the cushions has been utilised for storage.  Keeping track of where it all is when you get to our age and state of memory is challenging.  Ian was amazed to see my spreadsheet itemising all our provisions and locations.  It was a chore doing it but I’d never have found the baked beans without it.

We tucked into the last of our fresh meat yesterday, and appreciative noises from the men for the steaks and sauté potatoes. Mahi mahi again tonight.  They’re practically queuing up to grab the lure and Ian keep reeling them in.  Before we left we went to the fishing tackle shop and I stocked up with half a dozen pink sparkly plastic squid and the Mahi Mahi really do find them irresistible.  Our fishing equipment probably cost us less than 40 Euros and we’ve only used on lure so far.  Unfortunately my new gaff went overboard but we manage to subdue the fish with a squirt of gin into the gills.  Works a treat.

 

We’re well over half way now and going faster as the trades push us along.  The wind always gets us at night so our last task of the day is reefing the sail.  The weather has been rubbish and the last three days overcast and mizzly with the odd hour or two of bright blue sky, but as we head southwest and the clouds go north, it should be sunshine sunshine all the way.

 

Photo of our travelling companions, Tony Tiger and his small accomplice exercising and keeping fit.

 

Thought for the day: “It’s important to know where we come from, because if you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”  Terry Pratchett.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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