23:29N 24:27W 26th November .... Happy Thanksgiving

The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Thu 26 Nov 2009 05:09
Hello Bloggers,
 
So on the menu today in honour of our American guest (sorry no concession to spellings here, we don't want a boat full of unwanted 'u's) we have a fine bottle of Rioja recommended by our friends at El Court, Smoked Salmon, Steak with sautéed potatoes and a still to be determined veg option.  We may even go for a desert (choice of tinned peaches or chocolate).  Perhaps we should fire up the ice maker to add that special touch to our pre dinner G&T in fact I think it is a must.  I'm feeling hungry already but at 5 am in the morning at the start of a shift it is not surprising.  For those of you who don't (count in 90% of all non US citizens here) understand what Thanksgiving is all about, go rent a copy of Pocahontas (sp?).  According to Chris our resident Guru it is about eating a lot and watching the football.  Sadly we can only get it half right, but we could round it all off with a game of Cluedo or battleships, or we have yet to initiate Chris in our ongoing card tournament.
 
Another calm night but with decent wind to keep us trotting along at better than 7 Knots.  We have decided for a night of more southerly travel on the port gybe to get us into butter melting territory.  Can't recall if I have explained this before... Old salts will tell that the tradition for transatlantic crossing from the Canaries is to head SSW or SW till the butter melts, then more of less due west to the Caribbean.  This is a bit of a dog leg and depending that adds a couple of hundred miles (or more) to the trip but will give you better wind conditions when you get there.  Well we have been checking the butter and it has not yet melted, for this to happen I am not sure how far south we need to go, as on the modern day cruising yacht it would take a refrigerator failure (or 2) or perhaps some other sort of power crisis in order for us to have liquid butter.  Our Chocolate rations on the other hand are getting decidedly sticky so perhaps it is time to temper our southbound track and stick to the westerly direct route.  So you see our traditional guides to navigation are becoming redundant in the new technological age.  At least one old method is there to help us, if all else fails head for the sunset!
 
In terms of our progress here are the stats:
670 miles on the log
average speed 7.7  (bit disappointed by this as we had 8.4 the first day)
2100 miles to go (roughly route dependent)
top sustained speed 12.6 Knots (this means it is recorded on our log rather than appearing for 5 seconds on the plotter as we flip over a wave)
 
What else to tell.... Well the wildlife is back, our friends the dolphins are back, I think though these are some new ones, a small pod maybe 5 or 6 of the little fellows.  We all made it to the bows in time to see them but sadly our resident Journo Chris was a little late with his Camera and did not manage to get the video or photo footage he needed, perhaps tomorrow.  Also we resumed our fishing exploits.  Sadly a rather large fish took an interest in one of our (perhaps rather ambitious) lures and took a chunk of the rig and then a second took a small lure and pulled so hard it seems to have bust the reel.  I will take a look at the innards tomorrow to see if it can be fixed.  We have a hand line but it is difficult to haul in.  Actually this may be part of the problem with the reel, as we are accelerating at times to over 10 knots the pull on the line from just the rig is quite something and may be adding to the strain.  All the same I shall be very sad if we don't manage to land something. 
 
I think that is it for the night.  I shall now download the fleet positions to see where everyone else is headed (another traditional navigation method).
 
keep in touch
 
Ben