Atlantic Roadworks 46:03N 17:50W

Millybrown
Mark Hillmann
Sat 20 Jun 2009 17:32
Last night I was just getting to bed, washing up done, heading quietly for Ireland.  The alarm clocks were set and in that last look round I saw an orange flashing light.  What?  Roadworks in the Atlantic?  There was a ship showing about 12 miles away on the AIS: Juan de la Cosa.  It was only doing 5 knots which is slow for everyone except us. 
 
I watched and made out more orange strobe lights: "They have got a lane closed".  You don't sleep with unidentified floating objects around.  I could make out lights that could be Juan de la Cosa and perhaps another couple of boats and was that loom off the clouds from more?  On a clear night you do see bright lights beyond the horizon.
 
Gradually more boats appeared, bright white deck lights masked the strobes but only a couple were ever close enough to see navigation lights.  The AIS gave Juan's phone number (MMSI really) and it was a temptation to call him, but you could see what they were doing, fishing, in 4,000m of water.  What for?  I don't know but perhaps squid or tuna? 
 
A second boat well to the north had an AIS transmitter, the Garcianoda.  This put the Americans to shame.  On the St George's Bank, south of the Grand Banks, I had met their trawlers, pirouetting as trawlers do, no transmitters even with the Grand Banks fog.  Here was a properly organised fleet of at least 20 vessels over 12 miles with transmitters on the most northerly and southerly vessels.  Well done the Portuguese, or were they Spanish?
 
It was after 1am when I at last got some sleep.  The boats were doing 1 knot while fishing but 5 knots, the same as us when they moved and fishing boats always have the right of way.
 
It was a quiet night after that.   
 
Today is a good wind but the wrong direction.  I am happy to go north rather than get in the northerly winds down the Spanish coast and  I expect it will change again in a couple of days.  This wind would land us at Galway on the west coast of Ireland.  But the sun is out so no complaining.