(Photos on board by Gabriella)
The first attempt at serving coffee ended up all over the floor as the yacht
was hit by an exceptionally large wave. Listening to the cruiser net after
breakfast I heard several other boats mid-Atlantic complain about the sea state.
For the past forty eight hours the usual swell has been augmented by a different
pattern of waves from the north making us quite uncomfortable. I can only assume
these waves are a distant echo of the storm we've seen in the weather data
sweeping across the north Atlantic.
Also on the cruiser net I learned that I share my birthday with a sailor on
board a yacht called Nyah.
Despite the rough conditions we continued the celebrations with a bottle of
Cava and assorted seafood delicacies at lunchtime.
For most of the day we have been dodging a line of squalls; sudden rain
showers often accompanied by violent and shifting winds. Our dodging was
successful enough to get our laundry dry. Ahead of us 'Aquila', an American
yacht we'd seen in La Palma and Mindelo reported losing their mainsail during a
squall last night. Our damaged rigging so far is a destroyed batten car, a
device that connects the mainsail to a track on the mast. I have a plan to fix
it using a 'work-around' but need an hour of calm sea to make this possible.
Someone else has said that a sailor is happiest on two specific days. The day
he buys a yacht and the day he sells it. Yesterday Gal Oren wrote to tell me
that he has sold my half share in the yacht 'Settebello' which we have jointly
owned from new in 2006. I'm happy that the sale is going through because having
one and a half yachts ('You're a regular little Onnasis', quipped Shmulik) is an
extravagance we don't need, but I'm also sad. I'm sad because Gal has been a
fantastic partner and friend, and now we have one less thing to tie us together.
'Settebello' is a Dufour 40 Performance from the Italian designer Umberto
Felci. We bought it to have fun, race and hopefully bring home some trophies. It
was a success on all three counts. Sadly, Gal had other commitments and couldn't
be with us for one of the best parts when coach Amnon Samagora led us onto the
podium in 2009 to collect silver in the Rhodos Cup.
Gal, I hope you continue to have just as much fun on Settebello together with
Shay and Dani.
Tomorrow night (Friday 00:30 Israel time) - Shmulik LIVE on Galatz again with
Amnon Dankner and Odeia Koren 'Night Birds'. Live streaming at
