25 November Wednesday 4th day at sea

Slipstream Web Diary
Bill Cuthbert
Wed 25 Nov 2009 19:08

 

So Twistle rig thro’ the night. The boat ahead of us was hunted down and passed: the rear white light turning to the green of starboard on the Baines’ shift and the boat being lost behind us into the distance on Nick & Mikey’s shift. The Twistle is nice & stable & all the crew felt better for it. Sadly this was the last boat that we have seen: there have been no more all day.

 

The medical officer was particularly proud of his diagnosis of Mikes’ worsening sea sickness: his patch had fallen off. Replacement of Mike’s patch produced a dramatic improvement and he spent much of the day with his head deep inside the bowels of the boat (with Richard) reconnecting the cable from the solar panel to the boats electricity system. But let us be clear none: of the crew have yet been separated form the contents of their stomach (as certainly happened on the delivery leg)…

 

Mike made some fresh bread under the tutelage of Nick. Fortunately he was able to skip one stage in the preparations that had been required yesterday. Nick & Richard had discovered Weevils (or some such) in the flour mix and had sieved it before preparation. The crew had consumed the bread without problems and some wondered if the protein rations would not have been better if the weevils were left in.

 

The rest of the crew followed Bill & Richard’s example of yesterday by washing in sea-water. Nick & Paul continued their competition by washing, washing their swim shorts & replacing them. The younger Baines going for a distinction by washing his shirt (part) drying it and rewearing it.

 

After this excitement we decided we were going too far south and that it was time to turn west, so we dropped the Twizzle rig and came onto the wind, but this made it all a bit colder and the sea conditions uncomfortable.

 

A picture of the dolphins from yesterday...which is more attractive than a picture of any of the crew members.

 

 

Breakages: the solar panel, probably now fixed by the combined efforts of Mike, Richard & Nick

The ARC communication system, who don’t seem to be able to send us the weather report or the positions of other boats despite a couple of emails & a phone call

The fishing abilities of the crew. Despite 2 full days and 2 rods the sum total of fresh fish caught so far is nothing, none, zero, starvation rations. We’ve not even been able to hook ourselves when putting the tackle out!