15:56.3N 50:21.0W 5 December ... mine's a big un...
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Sat 5 Dec 2009 07:30
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Hi folks,
It was fresh fish tonight for dinner, instead
of losing a lure today we actually managed to land something, and something a
bit larger that the previous offerings, certainly more than the 3 of us could
eat at one go (believe me we tried) great to have some fresh meat to add to the
diet. This was certainly the freshest Sushi you could ever eat, though
most of the fish was seared after marinating for a while in Teriyaki sauce then
dusted with sesame seeds, delicious. You can see from the picture (next
blog) the size of the fish, it was a blue fin tuna which is all we seem to catch
in the Atlantic, they get much bigger but this was a perfect size for us as
previous minnows were hard to fillet, and anything much bigger tends to run
of with much of our line. We were told that fish don't like to bite
during the few days of the full moon and the moon is pretty full right now, so
we were a bit surprised to catch anything, However one of our close neighbours
Kalandia was offering fish yesterday for those who could catch up. They
are catching Dorado though so maybe we can get some variety tomorrow.
Dugald was asking if the Wind Witch could also do fish orders, sadly I don't
think this is within the scope of service, fish belong in an aquarium or on blue
planet is the general reply I get on all aquatic animals from Julie. Stick
to the wind we need a bit more of that.
What else happened today? Well from the photo
gallery you can see we were hit by our first Atlantic Squall proper, though it
only caught us on the edge and it was not too dramatic. In fact it was the
best wind we had all day (this has been another disappointing day wind
wise). Maybe we will be hit by another and it will be more scary but the
guys all say where can we find some more. The weather briefing on squalls
we got was spot on, you can see them coming their direction is predictable and
you can avoid them sometimes because of this. Previous squalls we have
spotted have passed by in front or behind us without incident. I suspect
today's was particularly mild due to the settled wind conditions. While
the trades are still blowing it is not with much force and the direction does
not suit us.
Due to the light weather and perhaps in
anticipation of the finishing line rum punch, sundown cocktail hour seems to be
a regular feature of the day over the past few days. I think tomorrow (or
in fact today) we should see who can mix the best rum punch. I am not sure
what is in one but we can take a guess and see what the results are. Our
bottle of mount gay is looking quite the worse for wear and I have had to ask
for more mixers as our barmen Mr Moore is a little heavy on the wrist.
Plus I fear it was effecting my ability to locate and destroy the North Atlantic
fleet (see final picture). Of course I managed it Admiral White was unable
to take advantage of the US superiority in surveillance technology to stem the
deadly accurate bombing tactics of the Royal Navy. Recovering his
composure Admiral White took on Admiral Moore of the Scottish fishing fleet and
was again trounced. I will have to lay off the blue skin jokes today since
Dugald is actually looking quite tanned for a change. Sadly the England
Scotland grudge match was postponed in favour of preparing and eating the catch
of the day. I did have one complaint, regarding my log entry
yesterday, that the victory by the US over Scotland was a very narrow one rather
than the landslide defeat I documented. I took the liberty of checking
with Admiral White (on the principle that history is always written by the
victorious) and he confirmed that it was a crushing defeat for the Scots.
By way of a progress check we have now covered 2143
sea miles on our log and we have (direct distance) 620 Nautical Miles to
travel. The indications are that we will arrive at some time on
Tuesday, However this could be turning into Wednesday morning at the
current rate of travel which seems to be averaging between 5 and 6 knots.
I would be disappointed after such a good start if we don't make it in 16 days
rather than 17. Sadly or yellow sail is sorely missed today where it could
have made a big difference, though it was fun while it lasted. I have
constantly been looking at the wind forecasts and maybe we can hope for the
requested better winds to arrive today. According to the current chart we
should be seeing 17 Knots about now from the East North East so far it is 12 or
so though the angle is a little more North than before so our speed is creeping
up. Lots of gybes and changes of sail set in the night tom maximize our
boat speed. It seems looking at a sub set of boats we know that many
others are also having this same issue. However I noted that 3 boats have
actually finished already.
This coming Sunday will mark our second week at sea
and we ought to find some way to celebrate, maybe the mid ocean swim is a
fitting marker if the sea is calm enough. suggestions via return
mail.
off to play with the sails now
Bye
Ben
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