14th November 32:11.3N 10:45.0W Of Dolphin Freindly tuna and OOPS I bust the Spinnaker
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Sat 14 Nov 2009 05:23
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Hi Folks,
It is the early morning watch again and all are
asleep apart from yours truly. Well what an eventful 24 hours (relatively
speaking in the middle of the Atlantic on a boat with 3 people) where
to start. Lets work Chronologically I guess.
Oops there goes the
Spinnaker
In the very small hours of yesterday morning after
I had gone to bed after the middle watch I heard a lot of noises on deck (not
for the first time I add) being a worried sleeper on the boat (skipper and
all) I hear most major events happening from the cabin as I am under the
steering station and the winches. Essentially Dugald accidentally tapped
the autopilot standby button and the boat carrying 280 m2 of big yellow sail
rounded up into the wind. The resultant pressure or subsequent flogging
ripped the sail. I think it has gone along a seam and since it is a new
sail I have high hopes it can be fixed. Serve us right for flying it at
night with only one person on watch. The wind conditions were not too bad
but it was gusting up to 17/18 Knots. No more sleep for me I got my
gear on and took the sail down, no great drama but I really hope we can find a
replacement or fix it in Las Palmas which will be a good trick given
the time constraints.
I suppose I could also say Oops there goes the
wind as well. While we did have a good few hours afterwards of
excellent sailing doing 7 or 8 Knots + in around 11 Knots of wind, the wind died
off for most of the day so our sailing was either quite slow or under the Iron
Mainsail. Lets hope for better however the forecast is not that special so
we may have an even later arrival in Las Palmas.
Dolphin Friendly Tuna
Fishing is a mystery to me, I don't really know
what I am doing but ever since we hit the western Med we seem to do very well in
terms of bites on the line. I counted 6 yesterday!! but getting one on the
deck is another matter. 2 jumped the line before I had a chance to start
reeling in, 2 I lost as I tried to reel the in around half way to the boat (I
think these were bigger fish or very good fighters) actually make that 3 as
Chris had another attempt which he lost as well, 1 we managed to get within 4 m
of the boat and we were just readying the bucket when for some reason the hook
fell from the fishes mouth and we lost the fish. FINALLY we managed to land
a small blue fin tuna. So in the end we did get our first chance to eat
Sushi on the boat, though the cuts were a little small and not too neat due to
the size of the fish. I had soya sauce and rice and Dugald bought Wasabi
and sliced pickled ginger, what a treat it was delicious we even used the ice
maker to keep the fish cool during the afternoon before dinner. The biggest
surprise of all perhaps was that Chas actually ate his tuna sushi style as
well!! What do you think Julie fancy a try perhaps with some anchovy
sauce?
Why dolphin friendly? Well shortly after catching
our fish and hooking another we saw our first Atlantic sighting of
Dolphins. They did not come and play with the boat, perhaps because we had
just finished stealing their supper, but this morning around am they were
frolicking around the front of the boat for around 20 minutes playing in the bow
wave. I may never have know they were there but I was taking down the
mainsail (attempts at closed hauled sailing abandoned due to lack of wind and
inconsistent direction) and I heard a lot of splashing which I first dismissed
as waves but it became very insistent so I went to take a look. All around
the prow of the boat was a pod of around 10 or 12 Dolphins playing in the bow
wave and generating quite a display off phosphorescence. Quite pretty and
it put me in mind of a similar scene described in some detail by Gerald
Durrell in his book My Family and Other Animals which I took the time
to read this summer as I sailed around Corfu (which is the base for the
story). So it seems in the end of the day we are forgiven for
feasting on their intended breakfast and we are friends with the Dolphins
again.
Past Half Way
According to the Log we have now travelled 380 Nm
and we have around 340 to go which is great and puts us into port on Monday
lunch time at our current rate of progress. The less good news is that the
wind conditions are becoming less favorable (or have been yet to check the
weather today), and we are also half way through our fuel supply. So I
hope the wind perks up soon or we may find ourselves taking another day of slow
sailing to get there. No disaster but less time to get the Spinnaker
fixed.
Travelers on Route
Since leaving the Straights of Gibraltar, we have
seen quite a lot of traffic but not many sail boats, yesterday we had a chat on
the Radio with another boat which is following our track, we overhauled them
during the night with fair wind and then the wind dropped and they turned on the
engine. They are promising to share some photos of the Snark under
sail with us in Las Palmas when we get there. That would be
perfect! We took some in return but the sun was behind them so they are
not very good. Being a boat full of immature Englishmen well all fell
about when the lady on the other boat pronounced the name of her boat as Epic
Fanny, we can only assume that she meant Epiphany. Either way a good name
for a vessel, or you could combine them to make a sentence I reached my
Epiphany in Epic Fanny. The couple on the boat seemed like nice folks
so I hope they don't object to our humour at their expense (or their
boats).
Signing off for now.
Ben and the Crew of the Snark
2 photos, small blue fin for dinner and Chris
having destroyed the evidence!
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