Day 6
Sadie
Thu 28 Nov 2013 17:04
|
23:04.145n 22:22.607w
Distance to
Antigua 2249 miles
Distance
Run today 95 miles
Sailing update
We spoke yesterday about getting round the "dead
spot" with no wind. As a plan this worked until about midnight and since
then we have pretty much failed, with light airs from the SW. We do
however, have an engine and it has been working to push us SW at about 3 knots
which is our most economical speed.
We overheard some chatter on the VHF about weather and joined in having
thought ourselves to be alone in a big wide sea. We spoke to a very nice
Scandi couple on a boat called Windsurf (or something similar) and another
called Starchaser. Chris - can you look them up on
the ARC site and let us know what boats they are (size etc) and when they
left . It turns ot we are back amongst some of the ARC fleet and they have
been popping up over the horizon this morning. It's nice to have company
!
This led to some debate about whether it's normal to have company out
here. We are after all about 300 miles out into the Atlantic and there are
heaps of variables about where boats would go. Our version of events is
that there are probably about 200 boats out here and that the likely area for
them to be in is about 100 miles by 100 miles, so about 10 000 sqare miles and
50 square miles per boat. Our maximum circle of vision is about 8 miles so
we can see ~ 64 square miles ( we were bored, but not bored enough to use pye
!). On that basis we now expect to see boats all the time ... but as we
type we appear to be alone again.
The wind is just picking up and we are on the verge of sailing again - the
peace and quiet will be welcome if it happens.
Domestic
Engine on and a calm sea ( a one point this morning
it was genuinely "mirror flat" ) has given the opportunity to do a number of
jobs. Tim has hauled his way 40 feet to the top of the mast to repair
the windex and Jez has serviced and cleaned the bog. ( Em, I can
already hear you so don't bother sending that particular text)
Yesterday was a sorry chapter in our fishing
story. We hooked a fish at the worst possible time with the
boat travelling at 7 knots and a fish going the other way, Jez got hands
on to the rod but as his kids will tell anyone, he is a rubbish fisherman.
Result - lost fish and lure ( Not one of yours Dave Smart). In the spirit
of all such - it was clearly a huge 90lb tuna ! Ricky and Tim
have now been re-energised as fishermen and the cockpit has been full of gear as
they prep, test and set the lures.
Ricky and Jez were in the cockpit at 8 this morning when Jez saw a shark
fin 2 metres away from the boat. The shark then resurfaced with half a
dozen of his mates. They were in fact a herd (pod ?) of small, black
dolphins and they stayed around us for about 5 minutes. We were so excited
that we failed to grab a camera but hope they will be back to give us the
chance. We are once again challenged by the Spanish shopping. Tim is baking
an Oreo cake mix and is asking Jez and Ricky to translate the instructions about
oven temp and timings from Spanish. Whatever finally appears it is
currently filling the boat with a brilliant smell.
Our previous Spanish question "what are we eating" has been answered.
Thanks Claire (sort of) - We have a few tins of "fake baby eels" made of surimi
fish protein paste like they use for crabsticks. We still think they taste
good and they remain on the menu.
Todays responses starts with a moan - Wolves escape
from Colchester zoo and several have to be shot How can it be that only
one of our readers (and we know of at least 10!) thinks that this is newsworthy
for 3 men stuck on a boat for 3 weeks :-)
Lizzie R - for shouting at us by text to ask where the blog was.
Sorry darling, hope you got it before bedtime.
Dave Smart - thanks, we now know we have Madeiran
Storm Petrels for company. Ellis, not sure they are true seabirds but they
could have been migrating i suppose.
Sam and Wendy - Fishing will eventually come good and all's well
Gav Moore / Adam Berry - Glad to know you are out there and keeping the
company afloat.
Joe R - You can send me the twistabout instructions and we will play to
your rules.
Harv R - More guitar practise and wash your feet !
Em - I'm sure we can spend it (Great news and roll on 50). And
Karel's, neices, boyfriend - do we know what boat ? It's a bit weird to be
getting realtime gossip about ARC boats and their crews but hopefully they are
in the patch of sea that we are in now and not the bit that we are heading
towards in search of more wind.
Chris - Thanks for the arc info and hope the deerhound is under
control. We have been smiling at your text to say that Kafoe (your
ridgeback) flushed and caught a muntjac with Jan in tow. It sounds messy
and we think hunting with dogs has been banned Looks like you fish as
effectively as us.
Sadie |