Sea Views at Restaurant Now 3
Nowcrew
Wed 23 Nov 2005 12:20
DAY 3 - Mid Day
Position 22/11/05 25.60N 18.38W
Dawn broke on a glass-like sea with the smell of Tom
frying bacon in the pan.
The previous nights watches had gone well, with
everyone getting some well earned rest. The cloudless night sky had revealed
tens of thousasnds of stars - far more than can be seen from land,
and Charlie, having consulted his astrology charts, had identified the
"Great Square of Pegasus", counting more than 30 stars within it (for those in
the know).
The biggest problem was the wind - or the lack of
it! Tollers had been running some weather/routing predictions on the laptop, and
our only chance of not bobbing around for a week was to head due west, and chase
a low weather front sitting out in the Altantic. If we could reach that, we
could get moving again at speed, but we were using precious diesel with no
filling stations on our route.
Listening to the Radio Net it was clear that quite a
group of yachts, who had taken a southerly route, were intending to put in to
the Cape Verde Islands in search of fuel, having used too much in windless
seas off the Coast of Africa - 600 miles to our South - this was not an option
for us.
Some of the fresh fruit and veg had already started to
turn, with the brocolli going overboard, followed by a few lemons and potatoes
from the aft store. With a crate of tomatoes
and mushrooms starting to go off as well, Bailey spent the morning
cooking them down to make a fresh sauce for dinner, and the rest for the
freezer.
Simon's previously unknown talent as a Michelin chef
saw him prepare a lunch of yesterdays fish, lightly pan fried with lemon, a
green leaf, and potato salad, with wasabbi on the side. Desert was fresh
pineapple, melon, and kiwi fruit salad, left in the freezer for an hour -
beautiful.
One of the benefits of the lack of wind, was that we
had clear blue skies and glorious sunshine. In the afternoon out came the books
and iPods, and Tom and Dave played their guitars
together.
Time drifted past, with another fish reeled by
Charlie, and expertly killed and prepared by Nicko on the aft
deck.
Simon again came up top trumps at dinner "Chez Now 3"
serving pan fried pork chops a la Bails sauce, with potatoes, peas, and
carrotts, followed by a selection of cheese and biscuits, and accompanied
by a bottle of oak aged red wine with a beautiful sunset to boot -
truly amazing considering where we are!
As the first night watches started we read emails from
Babs, Rory, and Fraser, Alf Faulkner, Tommy F, Sue Tollerfield, Denise, Isobel,
Ellie, and Rosie, Chris Lockett, Gillian, Lisa Bell, Christine Sleigh, Rach, and
Ranny - all gratefully recieved.
Ron put on the next episode of "24, and at
11.00pm the wind we were
chasing arrived as predicted!
Were on our way again!