Thursday 29 November 2018
Kelpie
Sarah and David Holtby
Thu 29 Nov 2018 17:33
A good day!
Our fourth day saw 151 nautical miles from noon to noon, with a very comfortable broad reach northwards of our Great Circle (that the Skipper has now explained to me is actually a straight line: hmm) giving way to a goose winged, poled out genoa and good downwind speed with more south, away from the lighter winds we see in more northerly forecast sectors. The price of that master strategy is more rolls than Hovis' lifetime production, and living as if trying to stand on a Spacehopper during an earthquake whilst Kelpie's elegant teak furniture takes life to swat us vigorously, unless lying down and in Chris' case also strapped down.
We seem to be about fifth amongst monohulls, but with a better handicap than most: the daily position reports are certainly a spur to our efforts with sails and navigation. Our speed and course have both been optimised by the more senior sailors overnight with a great deal of trial but barely enough error to complete that cliché.
We see flying fish regularly, even great schools of 30 flying at a time: puzzling that some fish can fly better than any chicken. They are thus a bit hard to catch, but Dorado and today a Trevally have graced our lines. I think I just heard a conversation between the Skipper and Ahab in which they discussed catching fish with old anodes: puzzling too, but no other overt signs of madness yet. A more formidable dining proposition than fish is the leg of Serrano ham that Sarah provided, swinging menacingly across the cabin with every wave.
More news tomorrow on that and those few fish yet to surrender.
Andrew
Ship's Boy