Day 5

Gins.pt
Fri 27 Nov 2009 13:36
Day 5 - the Thanksgiving day - started with a colorful sunset, soon followed by
by the loud noise from the fishing rod. This time Jure was the fastest at the rod
and after a short fight pulled out a young mahimahi about 40 cm long.
The best parts landed in the freezer, while the head , the tail and the bones
formed the base for an excellent soup with some vegetables (carrots, celery
and spices. Unfortunately, Marko yesterday lost 2 mahimahis, which were
alredy pulled close to the boat but then succeded to bite the metal string and
went of with our nice lures.
 
After breakfast we wanted to hoist the spinnaker, but after extensive preparation
and moving ropes one under the other and back the wind increased to 25 knots
and we put all the gear back into the storage and set again the main sail and
genoa on a pole ( goose wings ). Only an hour later the wind dropped to 15knots
and below but knowbody was eager to repeat the morning exercise. It was only
after late lunch that the crew felt strong enough to deal with it. Once up and tuned
the Parasailor (spinnaker with a big  hole) needs very little attention and can be handled
easily by one person. We always have 2 crew on the deck for the unlikely case that
something breaks and we need to handle fast.
 
Food, Food.. after last year's Atlantic crossing experience ( lost 12 pounds  in weight)
I made provisions having quality food and drinks on board as well as 2 good cooks.
Therefore the fish soup was followed beef filetpieces in creamy sauce with white rice
and soft bananas as dessert. Bananas have the unpractical habit to ripe on one day -
all of them.
 
During the night the spinnaker stayed on and we were rushing in the moonlight and later
on just in the light of the Milky way at the speed of 8 to 9 knots. It is so thrilling that one
gets goose pimples...