Half way tomorrow
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Friday
30th December We are still
trucking westward, our position at noon today will be about 16:18.00N
42:40.00W. The sea conditions have
improved considerably, and we are running with two reefs in the main and a
poled-out genoa making between five knots in the lighter spells of wind and
seven or eight knots when the wind goes up to the mid-twenties. We could put up more sail in the lulls
but could then be over-pressed in the sqally spells which don’t last long, are
usually accompanied by rain and heralded by grey clouds rolling up from
astern. We are still hand steering
around the clock. The poled-out
genoa rig is very good: safe and stable almost dead down wind – we do have a
preventer on the main boom too – but the poled genoa is a slight disincentive to
reef and un-reef as often as we should. The solar
panels have been pretty impressive and on clear sunny days can keep up with
demand from the fridge, instruments and lights and even boil a kettle using the
inverter (during the day) but in the
current, overcast conditions, I also run the generator occasionally to
keep the batteries up. By tomorrow
midday we will be very close to our halfway point with about 1100 mile to
go. The weather looks set to go
lighter so our average speed of between 140 and 155 miles per day may drop. Our bananas, very green when
purchased in Mindelo, are on their last legs and are already dropping from the
hook hanging them on the Bimini frame. There is talk of banana bread
being made but no sign yet. We are
murdering flying fish as at distressing rate with one or two dead on the deck
most mornings. They are amazing to see as they skitter away from us flying fifty
meters or so and change course in mid-air. The ones that end up on the deck
just go the wrong way in the dark. I made some
bread yesterday and while not spectacular, it was more successful than the first
attempt which didn’t rise and cooked like a ship’s biscuit. This second attempt did at least
rise when I put the dough in the cabinet with fridge motor to ‘prove’ but then
didn’t rise much more in the baking tins and the loaves were only about two
inches high. However, the product was crisp outside,
soft in the middle and quite bread-like and has met with approval from the
shipmates. We toasted some of
it for breakfast this morning when the generator was on. This batch of dough was very sticky – I
may have added too much warm water?
I wish I had thought to practice making dough by hand before leaving
home. I also wish I
had practiced fishing; we have towed a line with a variety of lures for long
periods some days but with absolutely no success. We do catch a bit of sargassum weed some
days. The weed is not as
concentrated as we found approaching Cabo Verde from the north, but it does seem
to be everywhere. I’m currently
trying to email the Hydrovane people about getting a replacement rudder sent to
the Caribbean but I think they must be shut down for the Christmas
break. Tomorrow is
New Year’s Eve so we wish everyone a Happy New Year. We’ll probably save all our
Festive and New Year celebrations and roll them into an arrival party at
Grenada. Tony, Brian
and Morag |