Day 33 - Leg 3 Day 4 at Sea
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Mon 27 Jul 2015 09:07
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The forecast for the first day or two of this leg
was for light winds, so we were expecting to motor at the outset. For the
first 36 hours, there were 3 - 8 knots of wind from astern, which is not
enough for us to sail so, engine on and off we went. True to forecast,
after 36 hours of motoring, the winds started to pick up and we put out the main
and jib to see how we got on. Apart from a slight lull last night, when
our speed fell to 6 knots, we have been bowling along at a steady 8 - 9 knots
for the past 36 hours. We appear to have reached the Trade Winds which,
currently, look pretty steady all the way to Reunion, although weather forecasts
at sea change from day to day.
As we have satellite comms on board, we can download
weather forecasts whilst offshore. This is invaluable for several
reasons. Firstly, as the ocean winds have no land mass to disrupt their
flow, you can watch the shifting wind patterns You can plan your route
several hundred miles ahead and, hopefully, avoid areas of low wind.
Sailing 20 miles in a different direction can make a 10 knot difference in
windspeed. Conversely, if there is anything nasty coming along, we want to
know as far as possible in advance so we can alter our course out of the
way.
Saturday 25th July was Sam's birthday so, and this is a
first for me, I baked a cake, iced it with home made icing sugar, all topped
with birthday candles. It even tasted pretty good, particularly
washed down with a celebratory birthday glass of bourbon.
So, on with our fishing stories. Paul put a line
out as we were leaving the Cocos Keelings and, within 5 minutes, had caught a
baraccudda. As these are not renowned for their taste we let this one
go. Next he caught a black bin bag, also not known for its
taste. Next we caught a big something-or-other which jumped, spat the hook
out and disappeared. The following day, we caught another big
something-or-other which knew the same spitting out technique.
Today, Sam took out his nice new extra large squid lure and this happily
water skied behind the boat until we took it in at dusk. It may not have
caught anything but at least it was nice and
clean!!
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