Canaries Bound
Delicia
Henrik Nyman
Mon 11 Nov 2013 22:37
Two Day Blog
Day 1
Ahoy land lovers, thanks for tuning in for the very first instalment of the
Delicia Blog....a string of ramblings put together by the First Mate that
can sometimes be the cause for some light entertainment to those of you
stuck back on dry land. Reporting all the up's and downs, and goings on of
life at sea in all their rawest form, straight from me sat at the chart
table on-board our beautiful home Delicia!
Sorry for the delay in getting this out, subsequently resulting in a two day
blog in one, we are having some issues with our Mailasail at present which
will hopefully be resolved soon. I shall still continue to write the blogs
either way, just worst case it might have to be in emails rather thgan on
the website unless Danny can get it sorted out.
So it's been a frustrating past few weeks with many delays caused by both
non-existent weather windows, fixtures from flying coffee machines and some
major tweaking work required by Oyster, as is ever the case with new
yachts......but I can now report that we have set sail from Plymouth at 9am
this morning (Sunday 10th). Sea conditions relatively calm which is a good
thing when setting off for a Biscay crossing. Main reason being that you
don't get your butt kicked before you reach it meaning you have the energy
to handle whatever it might throw at you! Wind is rather poor so we are
motor sailing right now, and not really getting much power off the sails but
we are trying. Saw our first dolphins out by Plymouth break water which was
nice, two of them came for a little race with us.
So life on-board is pretty quiet right now, everyone else is laying down and
I'm just chatting to you and munching on some Ryvita! All going well our ETA
to Las Palmas should still see us arrive just in time for the ARC entrance
cut-off date on 17th Nov.
I'm trying to menu plan for some of the charters we have ahead. One thing I
am going to have to get used to again is Caribbean provisioning. Last time I
worked in the Caribbean as a Chef was...hmm over 3 years ago now I suppose
and I have forgotten that a lot of ingredients I am used to cooking with are
not readily available there. I'm going through some of my recipe books and a
lot of the ingredients I am going to have to adapt if I still want to do
them! Sense did see me purchase a Caribbean cook book which I am glad I
bothered to get! Cod, mackerel and halibut make way for the likes of Mahi
Mahi, Wahoo and Tilapia!
One thing I am not overly excited about cooking again is Lobster. For some
reason I do find the whole process rather upsetting, so much to the point
that I have to get Danny to do the deed for me. By the deed I of course mean
the driving my chef's knife through the poor lobsters head.....and yes you
can steam or boil them to tackle the taking of the life issue depending on
whether your recipe calls for raw lobster meat or not....but through
reflecting on the whole process I have decided that a mercy jab to the head
is much quicker and therefore more kind than slowly heating the poor thing
to death. None the less I still call upon Danny to do this for me and from
past experience have discovered it best not to name the Lobster, for
instance Larry, as ultimately this seems to give the wee lobster personality
making his untimely demise all the more upsetting! Luckily Danny is totally
impartial on the matter and in fact thinks he is some sort of Samurai when I
need to call upon him for the task!
Righto well I'm off, cup of tea time! Need to make the most out of these
moments when the boat is steady enough for me to make one!
Until tomorrow then...
Day 2
Well not quite day 2, midnight on day 1 actually but had to add to the blog
seeing as not sent the earlier one off yet. I'm afraid conditions on Delicia
are rather unpleasant. We are encountering approx. 5 metre swell which is
only going to get bigger as we get to the Biscay, and the wind is on the
nose.....not what it is forecasted to be. I must say I am getting pretty
annoyed at the forecast, as it never seems to be right!!??? Our delivery
crew Leo and Nico are suffering quite badly, the words projectile vomit
springs to mind. Thank god for buckets!
Course me and Danny are fine....we're badass....or rather just so used to
these sorts of conditions now. Really hoping that the boys adapt and their
bodies get used to it but at present we are very worried...as, well not
seen anyone as sick as this before, especially poor Nico, but what can you
do? Best place for them is in the cockpit and we need them to sit their
watches, even if it is peering over the top of a bucket.
Due to the winds position we are not making much headway due to having to
zig zag so far across. We can't just motor to go in the right direction as
for one the boat would be too unstable, and secondly the swell is that big
that every hit slows you down to less than 4 knots even at 1600
rpms.......arrgghhhh terribly frustrating this really is. Deliveries like
this has to be the worst part of any yachties job......get us to the
Caribbean sharpish for some sunshine sailing....o and did I mention it
hasn't stopped heavy raining.....wow is that violins I hear in the
background.
On a brighter note I am in pretty good spirits, have to be! Just started
watching a movie called 'Bruno' having not ever seen it. Shocking! I can't
believe that Sacha Baron Cohen guy got away with making such a film. It's
god awful but worth watching just for the sheer shock value. Perhaps why I
am in such good spirits! At times like this one needs to watch
comedies....medicine for the soul!
Righto not much else to blabber on about for now, hopefully my next blog
will report that the wind has come onto the beam so we can start going in
the right direction.....as that is what it is forecasted to be!!
Ciao for now x
Day 2 continued...
Well it's day time now and conditions are still pretty unpleasant, we are
taking a bit of a battering. The wind has shifted luckily so it is more on
the beam so we are able to head in the right direction now. The swell is
around 6 metres now but hoping that will die down once we get over the shelf
and the depth will drop off considerably. Delivery crew boys still worse for
ware, not able to even keep water down. We are concerned as how long can
anyone last when they are being sick every 30 mins? We are trying to get
them to keep their fluids up as dehydration is a serious thing at sea,
needless to say they also have not eaten a thing since we left. We are
keeping an eye on them, Danny especially as he is responsible for their
health and safety. Biscay crossings are renowned for being tough, especially
at this time of year however we did not anticipate both our delivery crew
guys to get affected like this! Bad luck indeed, I am just praying that
either they adapt, or the conditions improve.
So on a brighter note I can't wait for us to get further south. Theres
nothing better than when you can start removing layers the further south you
go. Right now I am wearing Merino wool base layers, thermal mid layers, ski
pants, heavy weather jacket, fleece neck liner, woolly hat...and still I am
cold!!
Could really do with something hot to eat but the Galley is an impossible
place to be right now. The fridge is full of goodies but you can't access
any of it as it will all come tumbling out, that's if you can manage to even
get there without flying across the saloon first. I can just about open the
door to the fridge enough to squeeze my hand in to get the milk before
pizzas, fruit and veg come flying at me like torpedoes. Crackers it is again
then.....sigh...
When I get off watch I am going to wake Danny to get him to watch that Bruno
movie with me.....anyone else in need of some shockingly bad but good
entertainment should also watch it!
Laters ya all ;-)