20:38.527N 30:17.836W Counting Back The Years
Irene IV - World Adventure
Louis Goor
Sun 14 Nov 2021 02:55
Saturday
A week on Saturday and we reached the 2,000 nm to go! Thereafter each year
was counted down, Birthdays, Historical events and bizarre references
recalled for each year as we ticked off the miles, some of us with better
knowledge than others, Ian's Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture being one of them,
and the lack of internet for reference was felt by others.
There is a good camaraderie amongst the crew and a certain rhythm to the
days, night watches seem less difficult as body clocks adjust to irregular
sleep patterns and stars and planets are being identified with Ian's
downloaded app and recognised. Cassiopeia, Orion, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter
to name a few. Cribbage is now being learnt and Manuela continues to teach
Spanish and French with great patience it seems.
The moon set like a bowl on the sea at 2am this morning, reminding us that
all is not the same as at home, it continues to wax and get bigger and
brighter each night.
Variable but fairly consistent (if a little light) winds are being navigated
to reach our destination, so today there was a certain amount of pole
dancing (!) on deck as the spinnaker pole was deployed to goose wing the
Genoa, with good results.
Fishing is attempted using bizarre lures which look like squids and I
believe, Raymond wants to use feathers tomorrow, the mind boggles.
To describe what it's like here during the day is to imagine just one boat,
5 beings, some flying fish and some skittish birds like swifts that dart and
swoop amongst the gusts on a vast, vast dark, blue ocean which surrounds us
as far as the eye can see in every direction and undulates like a flicked
rope in slow motion as the swells move across the boat, knocking and
challenging us to keep the wind in the sails.
The sky, for the most part has been blue yet hardly any animal life in the
sky is visible to us at all.
The sunsets and sunrises are truly spectacular. The big red sphere reflects
and creates pink skies and a visual magical feeling around us.
"1798, the Wexford Rebellion!" comes the shout from the deck.
Goodnight.