Toblerone, Stars and a Fight
Piccolo
Andrew Yates
Wed 13 May 2009 19:11
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So we continue, after the excitement of dolphins
and the catch of seaweed we sailed on in ever decreasing winds. The day
started at 15 knots from the north east and finished with 11 from the
east. The wonderful things to be seen here today have ranged from a rusty
old gas bottle to portuguesse man of war, oh and another sailing yacht spied by
Heidi on our port side and sailed across our path and dissappeared off the the
starboard. All attempts to contact them via VHF were fruitless so we
continue to talk amongst ourselves. The afternoon brought our first fight
aboard Piccolo, it was only a matter of time in this big brother environment as
Heidi fell out with the batteries. The fuel cell appears to be working but
not charging the batteries which in themselves appear to enjoying a life (or
not) of their own as the willing drop two volts for no reason and without
warning. Luckily our sea stomachs are with us and we are working down
bellow to check all connections and the like to which we can find no fault
although admittedly we all slept during GCSE physics lessons (Heidi did O
Levels we presume!).
Lunch brought us some egg sandwichs and dinner a
Oyster Sauce stir fry and after we watched the wonderfully star filled night
with the almost tuneful Bob Dylan singing while shooting stars and satalites
were spotted. Night brought round two of Heidi V's Batteries with neither
making much progress, the engine was brought in to keep all things cool
(including the fridge). The highlight of a calm night ( 7 knots
ending 3) was most definitely the Toblerone brought along by Katie
(thankyou Katie's Mother) and Katie's comment on watch. At
approximately 3am while the crew slept a voice could be heard......
"Heidi........Heidi" Heidi slept soundly but Sam awoke "Heidi.... Heidi"
Sam thinking trouble might be looming went onto to assist, appearing on deck
Katie pointed off starboard to a star and asked Sam "Where's that
going?" Sam having just woke looked at the star, looked at Katie, again
looked at the star and then back to Katie "That's a star Katie, I'm not sure
where's it's going but it's not going to bother us" "Oh, it's a star, but it
keeps getting brighter and darker" "That might be the clouds passing infront of
it" "Oh, sorry" Sam returned a little confused to sleep some more.
The morning brought Heidi and Matt attaching the
cruising shute whcih was hoisted with the aid of a freshly woken Sam to much
success bringing a maximum 9 knots in a max of 11 knots wind. The wind
gusted and the shoot was brought down chinning Matt with the
hallard shackle and the genoa crushing Sam against the forestays,
no doctors were required as the lads aboard are tough little
sailors. Upon the shute being packed away the wind promptly died
and we baked in the sun. The pre-lunch entertainment was Katie spotting
large plumes of water on the starboard horizon, this being whales on their way
to a well deserved beer in the Azores. Lunch brought sandwiches and oranges and
some motoring to help Piccolo towards a redezvous with those whales and that
beer.
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