Day 6: Diplomatic entaglements with the International Fishereies Commision.
Ronja
Jan Morten Ruud
Sun 29 Nov 2009 12:35
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Dear readers,
as you remember from yesterday's blog we changed
tack from 180 dgr wind ("platt lens") to ca 150 dgr wind ("rom slør") and Ronja
simply zoomed ahead. It lasted for one night, but then things did not go
eggcatly right. Vibeke was cooking the long awaited Saturday egg & bacon
breakfast when a monster wave came and transported 12 eggs right onto the floor.
We cleaned up and decided immediately to change course back to 180 dgr. (We may
be on our way to Rio but we have great breakfasts.....) And this morning Jan
Morten and Harald cooked eggs, bacon and hot rolls. Heaven! In addition, the
wind has changed just like our trusted friend Mads at Frivind forecasted, so now
we have the wind at 180 dgr and we have a nice course straight for St. Lucia.
Things really could've been a lot worse than this.
Joke number 3:
Question: How many Country & Western singers do
you need in order to change tack?
Answer: You need three. One at the rudder, one at
the foresail ropes, and a third one to sing about how great the old tack
was:-)
The squall hysteria has infected the crew, and last
night WE FINALLY FOUND SQUALLS! Stian and Harald was on duty and got very
excited. Stian was the first to notice it on the radar (Harald thought it was a
big boat, bless him.....) and we immediately pulled in the foresail. And
then nothing happened except for a sharp reduction in speed. And then
nothing. Quiet before the storm, we thought, and woke the captain. (Which is an
increasingly difficult task. We have gained self confidence, gotten nerves under
control and learned to sleep in rolling waves). And then suddenly there
were squalls all over the place. We renamed the chart plotter to "Squalls TV"
and followed them with intense consentration. But the reality was somewhat
disappointing (or lucky) - we got a little rain and a little more wind and then
everything went back to normal.
Vilde is making great progress with the guitar
playing (we have advanced to "Let it be") and vegetable production (we can see
the sprouts and are now discussing promotional and pricing strategies
for when we bring these to market in Rodney Bay)
Vibeke asked Snorre and Stian to establish a Soft
Drink Audit Commision to count stock and update the ration calculation. And
never has Ronja seen such willingness to work, such effectiveness and
efficiency. The commision concluded that an increase in soft drink rations was
possible and would increase boat speed and guarantee sunshine and fair
winds until we hit Rodney Bay. Interesting, the captain said, and increased
the rations.
PRESS RELEASE
From: The International Fisheries
Commision
The International Fisheries Commision issues a
warning regarding Mid-Atlantic stock of Dorados and Golden Mackerel. Alfonso
Salazar, head of commision, states: "We have registered pleasure boats coming
from the northern hemisphere fishing like there's no tomorrow. We are especially
watching the young crew at S/Y Ronja, a Norwegian boat, for possible breaches of
international agreements, and will register a complaint with Norwegian
authorities early monday morning."
In a separate statement, the young crew at Ronja
states: OK OK. Maybe we were a little aggressive. But we don't eat them - we
just fish them and put them back into the sea! Plus we need to be able to
protect ourselves from the aggressive flyfish that has now hit two persons on
the boat.
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And that was all for today, dear readers. Thank you
for all your emails and greetings. And a big thank you to the Rainmaker in
Rosenkrantz gt for keeping such a close watch over us.
Best regards from you affectionate crew aboard S/Y
Ronja.
Coordinates: W33.35.062.,
N20.58.062
Distance totalt current rute: 2720 Nm Sailed distance last 24 hours: 180 Sailed distance since start:1193,2 Nm Distance left (current route to St. Lucia): 1596Nm |