Day 7 - -All by Ourselves
Tucanon
Dick and Irene Craig
Sun 29 Nov 2009 22:21
served with fresh limes and our own version of fried green tomatoes and
aubergines, a la "Fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop café", for any
film buffs out there. Have to say that it was very yummy, despite having to
overcome the hurdle of actually seeing it caught and killed.
We have been adding pears and kiwis to the daily, lunchtime, fruit salad.
They haven't kept as well as the bananas, which came as something of a
surprise. This is probably due to the storage conditions. It's all a big
learning curve.
It was odd not being able to see the lights of another boat last night, nor
being able to see another boat on the radar. We had been sailing so close to
Robinson for a couple of days, it felt strange that they were no longer
there.
Have to say "Well done Robinson!" They also caught a dorado yesterday and
various recipes were discussed with them, over the VHF, during the course
of the afternoon.
We do appreciate that one shouldn't use the VHF for frivolous reasons but
out here, in the middle of an ocean, there are not many boats within the
range of a VHF and we were not using channel 16, other than as a listening
channel.
We spoke to Bob on 3 Drifters yesterday afternoon when he called us. This
was the first time we had spoken to him since leaving Las Palmas. It is his
birthday today and although we tried several times to call him on the VHF,
during the morning and at lunchtime, we had no luck. Bob will be joining us
in St. Lucia, in January, to participate in the world ARC (WARC).
Thank you to the couple who sent an e-postcard to us, listing the collective
names of myriad animals. We don't anticipate being able to spot many of
these creatures before landfall but will be certain to look avidly once we
set foot on terra firma.
We did spot another sailing yacht only four miles to port during the morning
and it was still with us, though falling back a little, by mid afternoon. We
were unable to identify it.
There was quite a lot of black cloud last night but other than a mini
squall, reported by Austin during his 9pm to midnight watch, the wind was
not excessive and those gusts reading 24knots were not too frequent.
It is a strange thing but after being on a boat for several days, one gets
into a routine and feels as if they would be happy to just keep going,
indefinitely.
Today and for the next three days, I will try to give a synopsis of a
typical day on board this boat for each of the folk aboard
Today we will begin with what the cook is doing on an average day at sea.
In the morning, depending on what night shift cook was on, a quick shower is
in order. Five out of seven days, washing is collected and fed into the
washing machine, then hung out to dry on a make-shift washing line, strung
up in the cockpit, for the duration of the drying period for that day. The
dry laundry is folded and returned to the owner or if bed linen or towels,
returned to the linen cupboards.
Next, it is time to turn over the eggs, spray the basil plants and give them
a little water.
Snacks are monitored and replenished, by type, as required. If necessary,
more snacks are freshly cooked.
Time now for the bread-maker to be switched on to make the bread or, if it
is a pizza day or a day when dough is needed , then dough only is made, to
be used in one of the lunch time recipes.
Every other day the fruit and vegetables are checked. Each basket is lifted
from its locker in the cockpit and the contents checked individually, turned
and replaced. Any that are deteriorating are retrieved and discarded if no
longer usable, otherwise they are washed and brought into the menu for the
day or even moved to the fridge for use another day.
Lunch is prepared. Most days this is a salad while the fruit and vegetables
remain edible. Pizza is on the menu for lunch once a week, as is some
variation of a dish similar in theory, to Turkish spinach pie. Although it
may sometimes not contain any spinach, it will be vegetable based, always
with chopped tomatoes and cheese.
Fresh fruit salad is provided daily, to follow the main course.
During the day when there is a spare moment, or during the watch period, the
daily blog is written and keyed into the laptop during the afternoon.
Three out of four days, cook only has to do one of the 1.5hour daytime watch
periods. On the fourth day there are two daytime watch periods. The rest of
the crew have two watch periods every day and three every third day.
Just before supper is prepared, the basil plants are checked again and if
required, given a little water.
Then, after supper, snacks are taken out of the cupboard and made available
in the galley, for night watches.
Unless it is a 9pm to midnight watch, it's now time for bed. The alarm is
set to go off twenty minutes before the next watch is due, when it is time
to prepare to take over the night-watch.
We have a three day washing up rota so one day in three that has to be done
although, regardless of whose turn it is, someone else will do the washing
up if the person who should do it, is on watch or busy with another
important task.
Irene
