..... Friday 22^nd January 2010 continued

JIT (Just in time)

We gybed and turned on a more southerly course towards Antigua.  Although still  in the middle of masses of open sea it felt different.  The swell was coming from a different angle as was the sun.  We commented that the last time we were on a port tack (wind coming from the left side of the boat) we had encountered the rowers.  We wondered how they were getting on and didn’t envy them managing in the big swells or sleeping in such a confined space with a real possibility of being capsized.

For lunch we had a lightly curried coleslaw, tomato and onion salad with oregano along with a selection of cold meat, pate and cheese and bread from our penultimate loaf. (This menu was partly to deal with the result of the vegetable inspection - slightly soft tomatoes, on the edge onions and white cabbage which had had a little decay on one side and the carrots Bernie rescued by peeling them and putting them in the fridge).  It tasted good – honestly!

We have been receiving advice on the heron situation (yes she is still on board) via the internet and had been told that fish is best but that if hungry she would decide what she likes and so before we had our lunch the skipper tried her on ham. (The finest Serrano of course). She wolfed down a couple of pieces but turned her beak up at the remnants of the smoked ham we had in the fridge and didn’t seem over keen on trying cheese.  We felt relieved about the ham as we still have 3 cans on board and perhaps we will get to enjoy sardines on toast after all.

After lunch we sat in the cockpit and Bernie resumed his role of Master of Ceremonies and we tried a few pages of questions from a book Nigel (thanks Nigel) had given him. It’s quite a big book so I guess we won’t get through them all by the time we get to Antigua.  We also saw our first evidence for about 5 days of other human life – an aircraft trail.  Peter calculated that it was off to South America, perhaps Venezuela.

The heat and sun drove most of us below decks. The fishing lure continued to be towed behind the boat.  It’s done the trick before but however we are in the middle of nowhere and will only catch the passing pelagic fish if they are there as there are no underwater features to attract them.  About an hour before sunset Andy put the line from the fishing rod out.  We were really going too fast and the problem with using the rod is that it is difficult pulling any catches back to the boat without being able to slow her down. The other lure is just attached to a line one end and the boat the other and has a big rubber band in it to absorb the shock when a fish strikes.  It’s designed specifically for catching fish whilst sailing.  The danger with the rod is if a big fish takes the lure it can pull off a lot of line before getting tired, the pressure on the line could make it impossible to pull back to the boat and we could a)lose the rod, b)snap the line or c)have to cut the line and let the fish go with lots of line and a lure in it.  However as things were looking desperate in the feeding heron stakes Andy gave it a go.

After about 10minutes we both saw a fish strike.  Great excitement – of course at this stage it can all go wrong, the fish can escape as you wind in the line or come off the hook as you try to get it on board.  Fortunately it was a small skipjack tuna (about 1kg) and we managed to get it on board where the skipper despatched it humanely with the winch handle. Don’t know whether the crew or Charlize were more excited.  She landed on my head as I was gutting and filleting the fish and Bernie had to keep her under control using his rolled up BBC Newspaper (kept for this very reason and with which he has been training her not to come into the cockpit).

The tuna had been feeding on lots of small squid and other unidentifiable fish – Peter was surprised it had gone for a lure about 100 times bigger than what it was eating but that’s tuna for you!  In order to keep Charlize detracted he took these small fish to the foredeck where she got a taste of things to come. There was a short debate about how much of the fish should be for the crew and how much for the heron but sadly for Peter (and the two tubes of wasabi and packet of pickled ginger)  the heron won out and the tuna was all cut into small strips and portioned off for the next 6-7 days feed.  We had hoped to catch another tuna, as they swim in shoals, but no luck today and we can’t guarantee when the next fish will be caught.  At the moment we are being very sustainable at the rate of one a week and being a well managed boat had caught the tuna just in time!

The sun was just setting as Andy fed the heron with a lot of nutritious innards.  He then set to to make the crew a very tasty spaghetti bolognaise with the last of our fresh (frozen) meat.  Now there are only two chicken breasts left in the fridge freeing compartment so plenty of room for tuna. Andy consoled Pete at dinner time by telling him that skipjack is the wrong kind of tuna for sashimi and he will attempt to get a yellow fin tuna before the end of the trip!

The wind and swell got up over night and we were speeding along with an average speed of 7 knots. I was on the dawn watch (05.00-08.00). I think this is the best watch as you get some sleep in advance and have the joy of seeing the sunrise.  It’s fantastic to see the colour come back into the day.  Firstly the sky lightens in the east and the less bright stars appear to have been switched off. Secondly everything takes on an overall steely grey shade. Then the sky on the horizon turns pinky red and any clouds in the east warm up with this colour.  Today there were clouds on the horizon so the first evidence of the sunrise were the shafts of orange sunbeams rising up behind and upwards from the clouds.  Only when the sun has risen completely does the sky and sea turn blue -a wonderful start to another day.