The One that got Away
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We caught a 2m swordfish at 8.3o this morning but it proved too heavy to get aboard..honest guv! Heres the pic to prove it and Jody's blog for yesterday....................................................................
Ships
bLOG 24 November –
Nakesa Situation
report... Averaging 7kn with a light following breeze we have progressed a
pleasing but average 455 miles...in the wrong
direction. Notes from a small
ship – hands on hearts, foot in mouth, tongue in
cheek... Our Captain,
Atlanta Applin (9 yrs) took the early decision to head south along the African
coast as her competitive edge got the better of her! Feeling that there would be
more wind to assist us close in on the Eastern edge of the Atlantic, we set sail
and a course for the Cape Verdes, approx due south. This strategic decision has
seen us storm into an early 180th position, everyone on board is of
course elated with this great position news coupled with the fact we are heading
for the southern ocean as opposed to the “brochured” Carribean and St.Lucia.
Still with the fairly relaxed and “lack of competitive edge” shown by our
captain, we are all safe in the knowledge that, eventually, we will turn
right... Meanwhile First
mate Aston Applin (11yrs) has been cracking the whip ceaselessly and keeping a
tidy ship, keeping a vigilant
watch, tending to the sails, rig and hand steering for 4 hours at a time, a
truly tremendous effort. With Astons introduction of the much coveted “cocktail
hour” and “afternoon tea” he can often be seen sipping a G&T on the foredeck
at sundown.... Our chef &
fire officer, Ashley Scott (38 yrs) has been a god send, whipping up daily
delights such as “hand line caught braised tuna steaks accompanied with king
prawns” – he has literally been pulling the tuna out hand over fist! And the
shrimps he was able to scrape of the bottom as we passed the shallows... a super
human (or imaginary) effort! coupled with the almost hourly Serrano ham offering
(oh yes, Cortes Ingles paid handsomely for their late meat delivery – with one
free leg of Jamon Iberico – SShhh, we aren’t supposed t o tell anyone) other
than his incessant smoking and trying to let the children watch lurid comedy he
is a chef of supernatural talent, keep up the good
work! Jody Hunt (32 yrs)
our ships medical officer has been
of exquisite help, thus far fixing the compass light, regularly checking the
engine and generator, single handedly set up the SSB receiver – to our surprise
he even pulled out of his “tardis” like suitcase a satellite radio for listening
to the world service!! Our only question is that during an early morning watch,
he was so taken aback with the 10kn surfing down wind that he missed what could
have been Jaws attacking and snapping our pride and joy lure complete with 100lb
test line!! Where was Chef??? And finally the
Children..... Graham Applin (42 yrs) and Phaedra Applin (40 yrs). They have been
a pleasure so far, barely a crossed word, we feel that Graham may unfortunately
remember the trip as the Nintendo DS marathon of his youth, however in such a
young and well mannered boy, he is
left to rest and wander the decks freely. His younger sister Phaedra on the
other hand is an excitable young hand! Running riot on the ship to screams of
“we are on the ARC”, “i don’t like
salad” and “can i have another apple” is often the heartbeat of the saloon,
beating so loud sometimes that Aston and Atlanta have had to feed her mild
sedatives ;) So Nakesa
continues in good shape, the wind abating at present as i write this, down to 7
knots but with a boat speed of 5.5kn...we will chug along, chased by the fleeing
immigrants of Mauritania, hounded by the words of weather advisor Chris Tibbs,
“go south” and poised to turn right on our ARC.... Ships medical
officer – Jody Hunt Nakesa
out. |
