31 degrees west

Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Sun 2 Dec 2007 23:29
23:41.50N 031:13.68W at 22:50 UTC Sunday 2 December 2007

One whole week at sea and no mutiny yet. Officers, men and women, all
getting along fine but food and drink is still plentiful and downwind
sailing easy.

The skipper, for it is I back on blogging duties, caught a big mackerel-like
fish today which fed everyone (as a starter). Liz and Ian had already made
Italian meatballs for dinner so there seemed little point in fishing out
this part of the Atlantic. The first bite had while fishing today broke the
hook so who knows what we could have been dragged aboard. Anything that
would like to eat us as well is welcome to run off with the tackle.

In the general excitement we almost didn't see a freighter coming at us a
few miles to port then a big motor yacht passing us a mile to starboard. As
these were the only boats we have seen for days, it all seemed to get very
busy at once. It's hard to describe the sensation of an empty horizon in all
directions and, although we know that there are other boats out there from
radio traffic, the sense of isolation is about as good as it gets this side
of space.