Trade Wind Cruising - 5th May
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sat 6 May 2017 02:09
With the watermaker now whirring away we can afford the luxury of a daily wash. You actually only need a small amount of water for an all over flannel wash but our preferred luxury is a shower on the back of the boat. We have a cockpit shower and the unheated water in the tanks makes for a wonderfully refreshing start to the day.
The Galápagos used to be a provisioning centre for the Pacific whalers. Since leaving there we have been in Moby Dick territory and looking out for the pods of hundreds of sperm whales that Melville will have been familiar with from his researches. Whales have distinctive spouts of water when they exhale - each species can be identified by the spout. Every day one of us goes up to the crows nest, eagerly awaiting the telltale sign that signals " thar she blows". Each day we are disappointed. We haven't seen a single spout. In fact I have never seen a whale spout and it would be nice, here of all places, to have a glimpse of what once would have been commonplace.
Our new watch system is working well. It wouldn't do for the English Channel but out here we don't have to worry about shipping lanes. In fact the combination of daytime cruising with the chute and quiet night time sailing with the genoa and a watch system that allows a decent amount of sleep is proving very attractive. Our main topic of sailing conversation is whether to maintain our speed overnight by leaving the cruising chute up. Comfort is winning out over speed - and particularly because I have just noticed the cloud thickening behind and a rain shower that hopefully will pass to leeward.............
