38:21N 33:40W Closing in on Target
The Snark on The ARC
Ben Little
Tue 24 May 2011 04:30
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Hi folks,
Hope you are all having a pleasant cruise in the
fresh breeze we are experiencing. Those of you to the south battling the
headwinds our thoughts are with you and if your on your way from Azores to Gib
then enjoy the 30 knots on your beam. We have been very pleased with progress
making 190Nm to goal in the last 24 hours and maybe the magic 200 when we get to
daylight and look at the log. Currently bowling along at 8 knots due East,
we have a boat on our starboard bow who has been there most of the day but
thought they seem to be getting closer we have yet to overhaul them or reach
them on the radio (which we turn off at night to avoid disturbing the resting
crew.
It has been indeed great sailing and also good
fishing for the past 48 hours. We landed our second fish, a little bigger
than the first, again an Albacore, this evening. Sadly it was after dinner
so we will be having it for lunch. Cooking the first one today was a
challenge but in was worth the struggle with the Galley at 45 degrees, some of
the freshest fish we are likely to taste anywhere. Same again for lunch
tomorrow and if we are a bit more level I will try some sashimi as well.
Today it was hard to get a fork full of food to your mouth without the wind
blowing it away let alone messing around with soy sauce dips and pickled
ginger. The fish tonight was substantially bigger so we should be able to
eat it both ways! (cooked and raw).
The Dolphins are still with us though in smaller
numbers and less often, this probably has a bearing on our ability to catch fish
also the phase of the moon etc. tonight just after moon rise we were treated to
a wonderful display at the bow with the dolphins surfing the bow wave and
generating a firework display of phosphorescence as they shot back and
forth. I recall reading about this in a Gerald Durrell book about Corfu
and have always wanted to observe the rare treat. Mike tells me they saw
the same thing last night. Now the moon is rising later certainly
something to keep an eye out for. Sadly the photos and video did not come
out, too dark. So we include one of the fish we caught instead on the
photo mail following.
On the arrival sweepstake it looks like all cards
are in play, even if we lose a bit of wind the fuel we are carrying will allow
us to keep some sort of pace up and Wednesday afternoon looks like the target to
aim for. If we keep the wind then Wednesday am looks like the best
odds. The Wind Witch seems to have come good, if she can just hold of the
calm weather forecast in 24 hours here for another 12 hours or so we will
be flying in to port a little earlier. Not sure if that will mean an early
departure from Horta as the weather between there and the mainland needs to ease
a bit before we put out.
Happy sailing for those at sea and fond wishes to
those landlubbers reading in the UK (or elsewhere), after 12 days at sea our
thoughts are with you all.
Ben and the Crew of The Snark
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