Day 3 - Dolphins
Stravaig
Tue 25 Nov 2008 21:43
Cameron here giving you all an update on what's been going on out here today
(Tuesday). Unfortunately the wind was so light overnight that we were forced
to motor sail for most of last night which was really disappointing. We are
hoping that everyone else in the fleet has had to do the same!! I seem to be
getting quite interesting watches at the moment! Last night while I was on
my 10.30-1.30 watch, I saw 2 shooting stars within 20 seconds of each other,
and Grandpa and I had to manoeuvre through 2 tankers of 550 and 595 feet at
the same time while we were on watch together! Very exciting! Morning came
and I woke up at 7:40, ten minutes after my next watch had started (woops!)
to the sound of the man overboard alarm! Luckily, it was a false alarm and
was caused by dad as he went too far forward on the boat and away from the
receiver with his life tag on so that he could watch a dolphin show! After
switching it off, Dad, Grandpa and I went to the bow to continue dolphin
watching and for the second time in three days I saw five dolphins swimming
within a metre of us! Amazing! At 10:00, we decided to put the engine off
after 13hrs of motoring as the wind was once again picking up. So out went
the sails and we started to goose-wing -that's when you have the genoa out
on the opposite side from the mainsail! At 11:00 we put the fishing lines
out for the first time but, unfortunately we caught absolutely nothing! Not
even a nibble! This is quite typical of our attempts at fishing while
sailing!! I went for some sleep at around 12:00 because I'd had to get up so
early for my 7:30 watch. As the sun was beginning to set we were visited by
more dolphins - probably 30 or so, all of who wanted to play. It was a
spectacular display. There was one that jumped around 3 metres into the air
and nearly landed on the boat! Incredibly I even managed to get a picture of
it (see below). Well, I hope you are all well. The sun has now set so we
shall just have to wait and see what the night has to bring...!
