As clean as it gets.....

Phoebe B
Sail Ionian
Fri 26 Nov 2010 20:24
19:53.4N 23:12.1W
 
Friday 26th Novembre 
 
Seems that the wind conditions continue to be unfavourable to the west of us so we're still heading generally SW towards Cape Verde islands. At times sailing at 7kts, and at others having to motor at 5 kts.
 
This morning was woken by Sue shouting "Fish, fish!" as the first of two fish stuck. The first one fell off just feet from the boat and was a 80cm Dorado - apparently good eating. The second took the lure and then took ALL of the line. Paul was unable to match the fishes strength and concluded that "it was probably so big that we probably didn't want to catch it anyway"! Better luck tomorrow.
 
Today we each had the biggest treat imaginable - a shower! After 5 days of WetWipes a solar heated shower was the absolute height of luxury. And being able to wash your hair after 5 days in the sun.........deep joy. The shower consists of a large, black plastic bag which is left in the sun for a few hours to heat up and then the exit tube dangled through the heads window. It may sound a bit Heath Robinson but it worked well and made us all feel human again.
 
 
It was Jonathan's turn to be "Mother" today. Each day 4 of us take turns to do the watches (2 hrs on, 6 hrs off) whilst the fifth person (Mother) takes care of all of the teas/coffees, lunch, dinner, washing-up, cleaning, etc. At the end of a fine day we finished off with a piece of Italian Panatone cake with cold Ambrosia custard. Unless you've done this kind of trip it's probably difficult to imagin how good cold Ambrosia custard is on a hot day at sea!
 
Tony is the brilliant blogger in our team but its my turn now (sue). Its the little things that are soooooo important! going on watch at night is almost like planning to pack for a holiday! What does one need? well having spent many hours on deck alone I have created my list of essential items to help the time pass. Needless to say the following items all go in a bag which I call my EGB- essential grab bag. This is what I have with me; Lipsalve, water, head torch( Dont like it on my head as it messes up my hair!) Wrist bands, Qwells ,Tissues , I phone, earphones, watch (dont wear the watch in case of white wrist marks } mints, leatherman ( just in case) and of course a note book and pencil, when we were in the med it also included gloves and neck tie, both items no longer needed. So I have decided that I am now covered for all eventualities. So at night time now all I have to do is get dressed,don my life jacket and EGB and I am away!
As for entertainment.....well apart from dreaming about the fish that got away, actually I think secretly that we all were quite relieved because we had visions of derado for breakfast ,lunch and diner for the net 3 days! we are all avidly Reading and ré Reading books. Dan and Paul have nearly been fighting today to get hold of 'The girl who played with fire' by Steig Larsson. I have just read Misery by Stephen King, horrid horrid book I hated it! Anyway with that in mind, and anyone who has read it will now smile, I decided to cut off Pauls ......hair! And I have to say that now he is not only clean and nicer smelling but also very smart despite his attempt to grow a beard.
Enough rambllings from me, shall write again soon. sue x