Position; at 8.20 pm Saturday.  38*31 N  052*50 W

 

Shades of Grey.

 

Yesterday during late afternoon the grey clouds came in from the west, blotting out the sun, which of course then turned the blue ocean into grey.  I couldn’t help noticing that as Ian came on deck after 10 days at sea, he is now sporting a grey beard. (we can’t spare water for shaving)

 

As the wind set in during the evening it starting heading us, which means we can no longer point towards Horta, we must tack towards it, this means zig zagging  60 degrees either side of the direct route, slowly making our way towards the Azores.  The problem with tacking or beating as it known, is that on traditional boats like Serica they tend to be healed over 35 to 45 degrees.  This makes life below very interesting,  In the main cabin there are an abundance of handholds with which you swing around getting from A to B.  The bunks are fitted with lee cloths which turn your bed into a snug playpen from which you can’t fall out,

 

Serica has had a refit in the USA to make her sea-worthy and ocean ready for the journey to Plymouth, but creature comforts will have to wait until the UK.  One such Item is the cooker,  the one fitted at the moment is more of a camper-van variety, which means it isn’t Gimballed to move with the motion of the boat.   Thus in order to cook a meal, the chef of the night, has to hold the pan on the stove at about 35-40 degrees to counter the heel of the boat otherwise to contents will spill out.  Whilst doing this, his other hand is operating the spatula or stirring spoon which doesn't leave any spare hands for holding on, so with legs spread  out behind you, you try to balance and predict Serica`s movements whilst she is crashing through the waves.  Sounds simple to you realise most of our meals are made using two pans!

 

We have passed the half way to the Azores mark today, and we celebrated in fine style by opening a tube of Pringles.  I am looking forward to the second half but hoping it will be less eventful than the first leg.  But this beating to windward is slowing the pace a little. We can only count 40 miles towards Horta each day although doing 120 miles tacking through the water.

 

looking forward to dawn hopefully it will bring some colour!