Hotting up!

Lochmarin
Tue 28 Jul 2015 05:38
24:39S 176:32E

This is better!

The wind's still on our nose but has dropped to 4 knots or so. This means we're motor sailing - still sailing but with the help of the engine. That way we can sail much closer to the direction the wind's coming from instead of tacking to and fro across the line we want to follow. 4 knots on the nose means there's no argument, it would be daft to try to sail to windward with so little wind so there's no more tweaking and trying to decide which tack will be the best one and letting sails out and taking them in and trying with the engine off, then turning it back on again... much more restful. On the other hand there's the engine going continually. Not so restful. But we figure in 8 hours or so we'll get up into the trade winds and we'll be able to turn off the engine and sail properly.

Light winds mean an easy motion on board and, now we're up in 24 degrees South, it's lovely and warm in the sunshine. Womble suits are a thing of the past, shorts and T shirts are the norm again. We can sit up on deck (getting away from the engine noise) to read or prepare food or just enjoy the sea rolling by.

With Jon taking a watch Phil and I actually get a clear 6 hours between being on watch at night, a huge difference from 3 hours, so we're rested and when we are on watches it isn't a struggle, more a peaceful time alone in the starlit night.

And to cap it all, Jon landed a fish! A lovely mahi-mahi. Fish and chips for supper tonight!

Food:

Day 4: Supper was macaroni cheese with tomatoes and (frozen!) peas.

Day 5: imitation Garibaldi biscuits (almost Garibaldi biscuits, but not as crunchy as they should be, and with more fruit, but pretty close!); butter balls and lamb and white bean soup ( butter balls are sort of little savoury cheese scones, Carolyn gave me the recipe, the soup was pre-made); A sort of cannelloni dish, stuffed with mushroom, spinach (except it was chard as I had no spinach) and ricotta, in a tomato sauce; served with rice. Except instead of cannelloni it was rolled up thin slices of aubergine. You can tell the passage was getting easier, I'm actually trying to cook stuff! It was a good try but not as successful as I'd hoped.

Day 6: poached egg on toast; green salad with bacon and parmesan, and a carrot and orange salad (it must be getting warm!); of course, supper tonight will be mahi-mahi!

Snacks include the wonderful mandarins picked from Ian and Carolyn's garden, really sweet and juicy. Oh and mini Moro bars, which are sort of like Mars bars, only, of course, they don't taste quite right...

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com