Tuna 3 Pearl of Persia 0
gale-at-sea
Humphrey Gale
Sun 25 Nov 2012 03:39
Weather is benign, constant wind speeds of Force 5 during the day although dropping to Force 4 during the night, sun shining and we are making our 150 miles per day target - long may it continue. On the fishing front, the scrore so far is Tuna 3 Pearl of Persia 0, we have lost 3 lures, but also I was not able to get any wire traces before we left Las Palmas, so the fish are just biting through the line and disappearing off with a lure in their mouth rather than on deck - I know I would prefer them in the frying pan but they probaly think differently
We have a radio call in twice a day with the 9 other Oyster yachts that are crossing with us. All but one of them left from Las Palmas with passage plan direct to Antigua, without the stopover at Cape Verde. They are about 5 degrees of Latitude ( approx 300 nautical miles) further North from us and are getting lighter winds - although no guarantee that will continue. Forecast says these winds should persist for the next 4 / 5 days. We radio in our positions and miles to the Antigua, so we are able to see where we all are and the progress each is making
I made a nice cauliflower cheese this evening topped with slice of fried serano ham to give different twist to a comfortingly English supper dish
Team dynamics working well - a good discussion and solution to a chafe issue on the jib sheet this afternoon