Christine's blog 27th Jan

Susan Ayu
Peter Costalas
Wed 27 Jan 2010 15:19

Monday 25th January 2010

In the morning there was still no wind and so we motored until 12.00 when we decided it was time we had a swim. The sea was almost dead flat with just a small swell coming through. Peter turned off the engine and put down the swimming ladder and let out a long rope with a buoy attached. Bernie was first in and scored perfect 10’s for his dive from the swimming platform. He didn’t get so many points for his racing swimming as he seemed to be having trouble getting back to the boat. Pete decided to supplement the buoy on a rope with the heaving line as it was longer. You will be relieved to hear we still have Bernie with us as he was easily able to grab hold of the extra rope and pull himself back. He mentioned on the way up the ladder that he had discovered quite a few barnacles. Andy quipped that he didn’t think he’d been in long enough to grow any! Andy and Pete went in next and as I was on watch I followed up. It was a delight. The sea looked so blue and peering down into the depths it was very possible to imagine it was about 4000m deep. (I had checked around for fins before I went in). We weren’t surprised it was so warm as we have been keeping an eye on the water temperature. I can thoroughly recommend swimming in mid Atlantic although it’s difficult to get here but you won’t be worried about the sea being crowded. We realised this was the first time we had left Susan Ayu for 17 days.

We dried off quickly in the hot air and had lunch of leftovers in pitta pockets (pitta bread heated up and cut across the middle and then stuffed with curried coleslaw, black eye bean curry and chorizo casserole). It worked well but we have now run out of pitta bread so it will be a one off.

After lunch we put up the spinnaker and started to make up for the slow start. As we were on the level for a change we had afternoon tea of pancakes with lemon, sugar, honey and Nutella. Some of us had 5 pancakes but I won’t let on whom.

We still have a heron on board and we had hoped today would be a perfect day for fishing. The only fish we saw was a small tuna shaped fish swimming alongside Susan Ayu on the shady side. We think that there is now probably enough growth on the bottom of the boat (especially bearing in mind the comment about the barnacles) to be sustaining its own life form and fish are coming in to pick off the smaller denizens.

We also took the opportunity of a food stock take – we are not going to starve.

Dinner today was a bacon and cheese risotto with apple - no one spotted the last ingredient but it was dark, (not the apple).

The weather forecast was for strong winds and a large swell generated by bad weather in the north so we had to make sure everything was securely stashed away before we started the night watches. A good job as the wind and swell got up and by morning we were in the kind of seas I had expected we would encounter mid- Atlantic. Everyone on night watch had some rain. Sadly the skipper and Bernie drew the short straws and got really wet as well as exiled as the hatch covers had to be closed leaving them on the outside and us in the dry.

Tuesday 26th January 2010

It was a grey start to the day and swells which were big enough for the description ‘rough’ to be applied. The problem was that we not only had big swells from the north (which we would just ride over) but following big swells. When two coincide the boat slews around as well as going up and down and you have to hold on tightly.

I thought of the contrast between two days - a calm and benign sea one day and then one that needed to be treated with extreme care. Peter quoted in the style of Conrad ‘ I have too much respect for the sea to have any belief in its sense of decency’.

We settled down for this weather to last at least 24 hours. Those on watch got very hot under their waterproofs and those below had to hold on tight so as not to be thrown from bunk or seat or tossed across the cabin. I decided to read my book – which I am enjoying. That was a real mistake – those in the know just went back to their bunks – I made myself feel a bit seasick so stopped and was grateful the rain had ceased allowing me to get some fresh air. (No blog yesterday for this reason) It was far too rough and rocky rolly to cook anything and even making a hot drink involved at least two people for it to be safe and a certain dexterity to get cup to the cockpit and even cup to mouth. Foodwise this was the worst days food I have had probably since I was a student and even then I think I did a lot better. Between us we managed some dried toasted bread (convenience food bought for our emergency supplies), marmite and jam, biscuits and chocolate, Thai style instant pot noodles and for supper cup-a-soup, someone just had pineapple chunks with evaporated milk. To make up a full English breakfast is promised tomorrow if sea conditions are suitable.

However the sun came out and the sea was magnificent. We were promised it would die down after midnight but it didn’t but Susan Ayu just sails on in complete control.

The bird was very wet in the morning and spent the day, along with the rest of the crew, swaying hard to keep on her feet. She has got used to having her feed from the bucket and she even managed to fly a bit despite the strong winds. There are enough packs of tuna rations for another 2 and a bit days. Sadly it’s too dangerous to fish at the moment. Following her pre-sunset feed she had the sense to go and roost in the hole under the swimming platform and stayed there all night.

It was a better night for those on watch as there was no rain and a lot of moonlight until about 04.00.