WHEREVER THE WIND BLOWS

Norman G III
Fri 2 Dec 2011 21:52
good evening

the time today is 19.40 ( we dont actually know the time because we have crossed another time zone but our unofficial kingdom law stated that the time doesnt change until the day following crossing the zone) and our position is

16 42 10N 41 53 12W

and we are sailing on a comfortable sea at 6.3kt getting ready for the evening shifts

today has been remarkably unremarakable.

we have tried a new type of lure- not a soft body squid this time but a hard body rapala mackerel small size to try to tempt a new type of fish so we can make a chowder but nothing all day

a bit of washing a bit of cleaning a bit of cooking but nothing really has happened. its been so hot in fact the first tropical day we have had and i think we have adopted the caribbean timescales early.


oh and of course you can see we are sailing in a different direction
now before all the well meaning yet confused land admirals start giving us their interpretation of what or what not should be our course check the 3-5 day weather charts.please.

at our early morning management meeting ( skip and i chatting before golly and jason woke up) we pulled down the grib files ( weather forecasts from a formidable computer somewhere) and saw that we are approaching a zone of zero wind 2 days sailing from our position directly on route to sl lucia. now its not like a car where you can go anywhere- we can only go where the wind allows us to go

we decided that to head south in search of the wind again ( the grib files show stronger wind for l;onger periods of time further slouth) and then made a cup of tea

so reeling at the critisism from LGF regarding a non inclusive management style we held our first general assembly when the crew woke up( golly said if its a democracy he wants to pitch a tent on the foredeck and claim the space as his own-- we will see)

three proposals were put forward
carry on and get stuck in a wind free zone
carry on and then use the motor to get through the wind free zone
go south and see if we can sail the entire trans atlantic route

as in any benevolant dictatorship/ democracy everyone voted as one so we turned south. ( jason spent his time muttering something about control freaks and uncle mark but i couldnt grasp the meaning of it all)

so south we are heading and i think it will be another 2 days before we turn towards st lucia again--- this experience is certainly teaching us to be more flexible and to have some more respect for the elements and be a little more tolerant to change

one avid reader from the sykes clan has insinuated that our fishing habits of losing tacle and lures in large numbers is causing an ecological disaster in our wake and is a serious threat to passing ships in the area. may i remind him that it is his son( oh sorry now we know which member of the clan it is) who is most delighted with our fishing exploits and if it were upto him we would stay at sea another 30 days just to try to catch a billfish!

food for today as ever has been excellent.
for lunch we conjured up two types of tuna salad- tuna sweetcorn and mayonnaise and tuna canneloni beans onion and olive oil with some oven baked bread rolls delicious
tonight a quick penne with ragu courtesy of sheila followed by a delicious Bannoch cake made by sylvia and grace -- thanks it was magnifiscent

tonight hi to domenico fabio and jonathan our fellow crew members from palma-- we really need your help we have another sail change to do in the next 4 days!

and a big hello to barry happy birthday i hope you had a great day and see you soon


sleep tight

MG