(Blog No.32) Happy belated birthday to Catou Command centre, London!
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Thu 2 Dec 2010 13:16
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17:44.75N 27:52.50W
Thursday 2nd December
Noon Position: 17 deg 45'N 27 deg
52'W
Daily Run: 98'
Av. Speed: 4.08 Knots
Total Av. Speed: 4.41 Knots
Total Dist. Covered: 1167' Distance to go: 1922'
Saying for the day: Parkinson's Law: 'Work
expands to fill the time available'. Professor Parkinson
So much to write about today. Firstly, belated
happy birthday for yesterday to my sister Angela at CCC (Catou Command
Centre), London! Ange has been passing us all sorts of information since
leaving Las Palmas - including what our 'competitors' are doing! We also
get daily position reports direct from ARC HQ in UK, but you can all follow the
ARC progress on www.worldcruising.com/arc - then go
to 'fleet review' OR go straight to arc/viewer.aspx which will take you straight
to view the whole fleet and relative positions. ('Catou' is number 230).
It's great to know that we have friends following in China, Hong Kong, New
Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Guernsey, France, Holland, South
Africa, Guyana (S. America), Ghana and several West Indian islands as
well as UK.
Forgot to mention the other day: We tow a 'log
line' behind the boat. Those not familiar with this item: It's a long rope with
a spinner on the outer end that turns according to the speed of the boat.
The inner end is attached to a 'clock' that shows the mileage covered.
They are very accurate and we note the time every 3 hours in our log book. (The
term 'knots' used for a boat's speed comes from the early and rather crude
trailing logs which were fixed at the inboard end. When the old-time
sailors used to check the ships speed, they counted the knots in the rope as it
twisted up. Sorry - I'm full of useless information!) Anyway, as we
were sailing along and watching a very large and playful pod of dolphins around
'Catou', a curious group of youngsters positioned themselves about 100
metres astern. They were playing with the spinner on the log and swimming
up to it, then away, and looked like they were 'nudging' it with their
noses! We were worried that they might try to swallow, but we could see
they seemed to know that it wasn't for eating. At night, when on watch sometimes, you can hear them surface and
suck in air close by the boat. It sounds just like the human noise
that you would expect to hear if a human being was quickly dropped into a
pool of cold water! You can also hear them communicating if you are below
deck. I have also seen phosphorescent trails at night caused by their fins
when they surface!
First crew member requiring first aid has been Sylvie.
She had her fingers close to the main sheet block, and they were squashed.
We are not sure. Sylvie wonders if is broken, but I think it might just be badly
bruised. Anyway I rummaged around in the tool box and found a thin wooden
spatula, which has been applied by nurse Tucker and fixed on with Duck
tape! We are monitoring the situation.
A few days ago, Ben found a large
self-tapping bolt in the deck scupper. We
wondered where it came from! I lay on my back with a couple of cushions as
pillows and, using binocs, studied the fittings on the mast. It could have
come from any one of several brackets holding the radar reflector, or radar
scanner, or other fittings, but nothing could be seen. Yesterday, I was
standing in the bow (as Ben said "Having a Titanic moment") and I was looking at
the roller-reefing mechanism for the genoa, when I suddenly noticed a missing
bolt! There were three bolts - and two were missing! I refitting the
one Ben found, and discovered the third was lose as well! That was very
fortunate! In fact I have been able to send a list of spares to Allspars
in Plymouth (items that sheared the other day in the bad weather + a few others)
and they are sending them to our friends Brian & Pam Sharp, who are coming
out to join us in Lucia for Christmas.
A sad piece of news from Chaceley. An uncle of
Ben's wife Lucinda died the night before last. Poor Ben was quite upset,
since they were good friends, living quite close by and they played golf
together. He was only diagnosed with cancer very recently, so it has come as
quite a shock. Nigel & Helen + Lucinda and children were due to fly to
St. Lucia next week, so we are not now sure what arrangements are being made.
Lots more to tell you - will add to another blog!
We are making slow progress still, using the engine sparingly, and we have
sailed for most of the last 24 hours (about 5 hours motoring).
Best wishes to all. 'Catou'
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