Blog#50 Las Palmas to Cape Verde
Cassini's blog
Simon and Sally, Nigel and Catherine
Thu 9 Nov 2023 14:25
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And a very good day to all our readers... from
the Atlantic, 250 miles north of Cape Verde
Yesterday we passed the halfway point between Las
Palmas and Mindelo, the harbour in Cape Verde that is the target for the first
phase of the adventure, so its all downhill from here according to the
navigator, which I have to be honest does not inspire confidence in his
knowledge of geography or the behaviour of
the sea.
We have settled nicely into a routine for each day, and
noting where a part of that routine needs tweaking to improve it. The
introduction of one of the 5 of us, in turn, playing the part of Roger the
Cabin Boy for 24 hours, while the other 4 do the watchkeeping, has helped with
prepping of food, keeping the boat clean and tea wetting enormously. Today
is my turn. After coming off watch at 0900, I switched to Roger mode and this
morning have tidied and cleaned the saloon, galley, bathrooms, prepared lunch,
decided what we are having for dinner (don't tell the crew but there's rice
pudding tonight for afters!). Later I'll cook dinner, tidy the galley, fill the
flasks with hot water and top up the cockpit nutty box, to keep the
watchkeepers going overnight, and then (oh joy of joys!) get all night in my
bunk instead of working 1 in 2 watches of 3 hours each
overnight.
The food seems to be going down well (though as the
Chief Caterer onboard I may have a slightly biased opinion on that! Though as I
am still onboard rather than walking the plank I think they agree with me up to
now.) Unfortunately the menu has not yet been supplemented by fresh fish
despite Durk's best efforts. There have been some strikes on the hook but they
haven't yet made it onboard (Current score Fish 5 Durks 0). We did, however, have 4 fish onboard during
last night. They were of the flying variety. None of them had cleared
their flight with Air Traffic Control as they all landed in the cockpit somewhat
unexpectedly; one of them hi Durks in the middle of the back, in the middle
of the night and in the middle of the Ocean - now wouldn't that make you
jump? He did!
A few interesting facts have come to light during the
past few days:
Everyone here is in good heart and on good form, even in
the middle of the night having just been goffered. For the uninitiated among our
readers this is a passive verb which describes the effect of a large
lump of the sea that leaves its own habitat, temporarily climbing into the air
and returning to its home via the cockpit drains, generally leaving a
soaking cockpit inhabitant in its wake. These events happen infrequently
thankfully, though this morning while fixing a little problem on the
hydro-generator, Simon was dampened to such an extent that his automatic life
jacket inflated; my, how we laughed. For any safety conscious reader, or
more particularly any members of his family, the lifejacket is now fully
operational again.
It was also good to discover earlier today that
Wrexham beat Port Vale 2-1 on Tuesday night, CMON THE TOWN.
Naval slang, for those not indoctrinated by a naval
career : Nutty - biscuits and sweets, sometimes even fruit
 Goffered - smashed by a big wave!Mark (Snake hips) Slawson
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