23 13N 60 50W
Osprey
John Bowering
Tue 19 May 2009 22:59
stunning, beautiful clear days with the temperature running in the mid
twenties. Clear cloudless sky's and a pleasant 10 knot breeze. Not enough
wind for real sailing but we are nevertheless travelling along nicely if a
little slowly by our usual standards. Nevertheless the boat is upright and
comfortable and we are moving north and starting to pick up some easting
under all plain sail. The sunrises and sunsets are glorious with Charles
experimenting with his new camera to capture them for posterity. The nights
are starting to be a little chilly now and with moon not rising until about
0100 are every dark to start with. This does mean though that we can see
every star in the sky and Venus is really bright early in the morning. Kuki
stood her first 8 to 12 watch last night and apparently followed Anita's
instructions as she was wrapped up AND brought her sleeping bag into the
cockpit with her - and was soon snoring! Charles has now completely adjusted
so the food levels on board are falling rapidly. We had one of Kuki's
prepared meals yesterday evening which by yacht standards was cordon bleu.
The meal of course pretty much put us all to sleep. We had a flying fish
come on board to visit yesterday which was the first Kuki had seem. However
she would not fry it up for us. With the great weather we have relapsed into
to the most casual of dress and Charles has voted Kuki an honorary male for
the duration of the voyage. We have decided not to mention in the blog that
the boat is performing well, which it is - as the last time we did that the
generator raw water cooling rotor failed within minutes of the blog being
posted. It was soon fixed but was very annoying as the rotor in question was
only four hours old having been changed out in Falmouth prior to departure.
Kuki has now moved into the pilot house as she has decided its better for
her - she is in the centre of activity and can see out through the
companionway when lying in her bunk. Charles has moved into the saloon berth
which is more comfortable at sea than the for'd double and we are eating in
the cockpit so the saloon table is redundant. Kuki has now adjusted to the
motion and as a result we find her doing what she does at home - on the move
as soon as she wakes up, preparing food and bombarding us with questions
about our daily food desires and generally making us feel tired and
inadequate. Perhaps an indication of the way Kuki has bounced back is
firstly her non stop chatter and a comment from Charles -" I think I preferred it when you were seasick!"
So, now to the real story of Osprey - John, as a master mariner, is outraged at the lack of nautical nomenclature in use. But both Kuki & Charles see no problem with such vernacular as - pointy end, square end, handkercheifs (of varing sizes), lots of stringy bits and driving to the Azores. The day has been spent in idyllic leisure, trying to catch fish, see dolphins - none spotted and generally enjoying the beautiful weather.
Charles, Kuki & John have developed into an efficient unit with a seemless timetable. Dinner is taken just before sunset, John then gets a bit of rest before taking over watch around 8-9 pm and he is on watch till 12am. Charles then takes over until 0400-0500 hrs when John comes back on watch. John performs a few routine tasks during the dawn watch once the sun is up, and Charles generally gets up around 0730 hrs. Breakfast follows in the cockpit, and then admin - running the generator, checking the engine, cleaning the galley, washing etc. Then the day begins - generally Charles lounges on deck and sees both Kuki & John at irregular intervals for them to have a look and eat. After lunch, as one of more senior years, John (the Buda) takes a siesta and then turns on the HF radio to listen to Herb for the weather forecast - not much use at the moment, as the sea is as flat as a pancake and there is no wind. Kuki's role throughout continues to be the provider of numerous meals and snacks - almost immediately on completion of one enquiring what is wanted next.
There was a major first today for this motley crew aboard Osprey - Charles baked a loaf of bread and it was rather splendid, just perfectly timed for lunch. The actual preparation was somewhat amusing, as in typical fashion Charles read the instructions but paid only a little heed to them - it said a cup of water not a mug, so a shout was heard below and Kuki came to the rescue with more flour, eventually Charles managed to knead the dough into an elastic ball and not a sticky gloop stuck to his hands. Tomorrow's mission is Wild Blueberry Muffins - as for losing weight, this trip might not work. Once the dough the was safely rising, John made an appearance on deck with the comment "it is like a bloody circus" which Charles & Kuki took for a compliment!