Atlantic update - Leg 2, Day 1
Itchycoo
Thu 22 Nov 2018 13:17
Smartphones must be one of the greatest advances in technology in recent years so how come my watch knew it was 9.00pm, the chart plotter knew it was 9.00pm, the battery operated ships clock knew it was 9.00pm, yet my iphone doesn't and wakes me up and tells me its 10.00pm time for watch???? Apple have really gone downhill since Steve Jobs demise.
As you may have gathered from the heading we have departed Cape Verde and are off on the big one to St Lucia. Suitably enough, having drifted in on diesel fumes we drifted over the start line in zero wind powered by the alcoholic fumes radiated by the crew. Yes it was a quiet night the night before but that doesn't seem to entail abstainting from alcohol. Ross was put to bed comatose at 12.00 and up again at 3.00 looking for a party - the man's constitution is phenomenal. We got off to a reasonable start and then the wind dropped and we settled back into our customary position at the back plotting our move to split the fleet. There had been some discussion about delaying our start to wait for good winds but depending on your view point it was decided detox now was a good idea or the sooner we start the quicker we get our hands on rum punches!! Crew now focused on life at sea. The vegetable turner is incredibly happy as he found some very interesting new friends in the market at Mindelo and in fact he has formed a particularly disturbing relationship with a vegetable I have never seen before and can be found quietly muttering away to it. I am thinking of renaming him the Vegetable Whisperer. Kevin over the moon as he can now do some new spreadsheets for duties and rotas and develop his complex sheet he produces daily to tell us our position in the fleet, I haven't the heart to tell him we can look out the window and go "thats Ardnagee over there and Margot behind us so we have gone up a place" still it keeps him happy and out of harms way. Dan still working hard at developing his plan for the 24 hour siesta. Warren, you remember Warren the Hydrovane Beatty continues to run the boat. We now have a new crew member - Squiddly Diddly the Pink squid ( I have told you before we like the names, yes they are childish but it keeps us happy). Squiddly is our new fishing lure but we are trying a new tactic - we are not going to put our line out today so that all the fish will come to the surface to see where it is and then Wallop thats when we get them with the Gaff Hook - Inbloodygeniuos. I will report on the progress of that one next time. We have also introduced what I think should be an Olympic sport - the rush to get to the 12 volt and USB charging points when the engine is on to recharge the main batteries its like boat version of musical chairs with one crew member left holding a charger and nowhere to plug it.
Now the technical bit - we are currently at 16:42.949N 25:53.971W I like doing this bit as it makes me look as though I know what I'm doing but in reality it's how the Mailasail tracker updates. You can also follow our progress in real time if you download the app YB Races.
10:00 - Breaking news - A FISH HAS BEEN CAUGHT !!
The pink squid lure has a attracted a gay Mahi Mahi (or Dolphin fish - but NOT a Dolphin) . A bit on the small side but beggars can't be choosers.
Postscript from Crew Member KB :-
Hi to all the followers from the Lighting Industry - good to have you 'aboard'.
Many thanks to Jo Stimson for setting up the Charity page and thanks to those of you who have generously made a donation. If I can help sail a dry-boat across the Atlantic and give up alcohol for 20 days, I would hope others can give to 2 very worthwhile charities.
Hopefully we will have made better sailing progress tomorrow - will update you then.
Previous videos you may wish to watch :-
https://youtu.be/k-ER4UBe40o
https://youtu.be/4KpxhVDBMXc
https://youtu.be/UFGdCmwFKdw
https://youtu.be/if-pQi4Zqbu
You may never get the music out of you head though !
Best wishes
Kevin
Sent Via Iridium Sat Phone
http://blog.mailasail.com/itchycoo
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