Ships that Pass in the Night

You would think that in an ocean that makes up 1/3rd of the earths surface the chances of 'bumping' in to another boat would be very unlikely. Not so , it seems two days ago the children took an afternoon watch and sighted a sail, it turned out to be the catamaranm 'Unicorn'  bound for Pitcairn Island and we talked on the radio. It was a Hungarian couple from Budapest bound for Australia. They eventually passed within a mile of us, an incredible coincidence, and we agreed to meet for drinks when our paths next crossed!

Then.....last night Aston and I sighted a bright light on the horizon, It coincided with a batten falling out of the mainsail and so we monitored the light whilst I went on deck to sew up the pocket. THe presumed ship moved very very quickly and then just suddenly dissapeared. It was quite spooky, we explored the idea that it was an alien landing or some kind of mirage (do you get these at sea) before deciding it was a naval stealth ship on manouvres.

These events did prove however that a good watch is as important mid Pacific as anywhere else!! Damn it!! so much for the dream of longm uninterrupted sleeps at sea!

Today the wind was much lighter and has swung around to the East. his meant slower progress and so an experiment setting the cruising chute or MPS. Now here we are time to be out spoken and controversial.......okay okay Graham about time I hear you all cry... I think it is time to state that I actually think that the MPS is a waste of time without a pole. I have attempted to fly them on many boats over many years and found them poorly setting until the wind angle is 140 degrees or less in which case a 140% genoa is as fast and more controllable. If the angle is more then the mainsail 'blankets' the wind and the sail becomes unstable, even without the main the sail moves too much. therefore in the World according to Graham... yes to a symmetrical spinnaker or asymetric if on a bowsprit of a boat with a planing hull but  an MPS.for cruising..........forget it! There, now you know.

Finally fish..well the un repentant squid kept landing and the flying fish still intent on hitching a ride so we gave in and started fishing again..the rewards... a good sized Wahoo yesterday and a small tuna today (which we threw back). Now if God intended us to eat fish he  would have created them to exist naturally, gutted and filleted and ideally pre-packed for refridgeration. However as it is there is a rather inconvenient and messy process to prepare this food for consumption which naturally falls to the skipper  who then strangely doesnt fabcy eating fish for the rest of the day!!! Nature...hopeless!!!

The beauty of this ocean continues to excite us and we celebrated tonight with a customery Tot and a Hawaiian dressing up theme...'to sweethearts and wives..may they never meet...the Quees, God bless her!'

Goodnight all.