Friday fish (surely)

We left Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on Monday afternoon in the sunshine, enjoying the bustling activity on the water and off at the Yacht Week there. One race was finishing and another starting as we turned out of the harbour entrance; we stayed well clear before heading out on our first course, north east to a point 30 degrees north and about 55 degrees west.

Our plan takes us first north east, to get on the top side of the Atlantic high-pressure zones that sit over Bermuda and the Azores, meaning a week or so of upwind sailing before attaching ourselves to some more downwind with the help of the low-pressure systems that cycle off the US at this time of year and follow the top of the Bermuda/ Azores Highs. Our first actual destination will be Horta in the Azores, hopefully in about two weeks. We began with reefs in the main sail and staysail, but as the winds have reduced, now sailing full main and headsail.

The crew have settled in quickly; the pre-preparation of four meals, frozen down in one of the fridges before we left, has made cooking a lot easier. The food looks delicious and thanks to Pauline, Romain and Liz for their preparation of it. Everyone is contributing to the way we sail, from giving the watch handovers to preparing for and executing manoeuvres, all of which so far have gone off without a hitch. Good teamwork. There has been a real thirst for knowledge to sail, but also manage the systems like the water-maker.

The weather is not altogether playing ball (as usual), resulting in us reaching to windward for the first few days. A couple of heavy squalls have provided strong winds; a couple of nights ago one actually developed right over the top of us and dumped rain and wind on us almost without warning. The crew managed to reef quickly and their grasp of all the ropes and winches in the ‘pit’ proved they’ve been paying attention so far. It looks to be reducing to lighter airs over the next few days which will bring other and different challenges!

There’s very little shipping about and we had our first other yacht sighting today, Ballytrim (who we met at Shirley Heights on Antigua on Sunday) enroute Azores and Europe.

We have created sufficient room in the fridge now for fish and have had the line out for a day half a day so far. We struck early, but the wily wahoo, made a successful break for freedom by jumping from the water to successfully throw the hook. A large barracuda was caught and returned this morning but was followed by a lovely Mahi Mahi which Coleman muscled onboard. Filleted and made into ceviche for lunch and something for supper with some left over.

The crew, despite the moderately rough and blustery conditions, are in good spirits; settling into the watchkeeping routine of three hours on and six off, reading, sleeping and eating in between keeping watch and monitoring the boats systems to ensure we make good progress.

Simon