Another one Landed! 37:38.33N 20:12.40W
The Return of Irene III - 2018
Louis Goor
Fri 8 Jun 2018 19:40
Another one Landed!
With the departure of Tom, it was necessary to rejig the watch schedule. We
are now doing one man, two and a half hour watches commencing at 7pm in the
evening with John followed by Donald, Sean, Tony and finally Johnny from 5am
to 7.30am. It is lucky that Johnny was last man up as his fishing rod had a
strike at 5.30am with the very first glimmer of daylight with the line
screaming out behind the boat. With assistance from John, the yacht was
slowed by furling the main and reducing the genoa to little more than
pocket-hankerchief size. Johnny, at first thought he had lost the fish, but
after much winding and work, it was brought alongside the boat for John to
gaff and land on the deck. This one was not getting away to Johnny's
delight. His perseverance and hard work since the last catch has paid off
and he has a photo to prove it is not just another of his tall stories!
As we sail easterly towards the Straights of Gibraltar, we continue to enjoy
northerly winds of between 15 and 25 knots. Irene III is showing just how
fast a lady she can be with speeds ranging upwards to over 10 knots. On
this point of sail she performs beautifully. In the last 24 hours since,
4pm yesterday, we have covered 191 nautical miles directly along our rhumb
line to Gibraltar, a record for this passage.
With the fast smooth sailing, crew moral is high, being only slightly
dampened by the coolness of the northerly winds - we were expecting to be in
bathing trunks during the day rather than wrapped up in jackets and
oilskins.