19th April - Half Way 25:12.024N 063:55.307W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Fri 19 Apr 2013 21:41
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26:18.391N 064:04.299W
"19th April - Half Way"
Great joy this morning as we crossed the Half Way
line and also beat our 24hr record by a four miles, it now stands at
154nm. Whisper is still pounding along up and over or straight through the
waves. We are still on course although waving back and forth across our magical
track. We had quite a tempestuous sea as darkness engulfed us, this
carried on throughout the night, with many gofers and clanking of the anchors on
the bow. It was necessary to put the bottom wash board in as the spray
was coming right over the spray hood and not just around it. Thanks to
Windy Bill's fortitude and the Sea-Me keeping us alert of any shipping, we
were able to keep watch from below in the relative dry, occasionally sticking
our heads up over the parapet just to be sure that all was clear.
After breakfast Noel bravely went up to the bow to
check on the anchors and to make them more secure. He came back to the
cockpit absolutely soaked. Fortunately he did not get submerged, it was a
necessary job and now the crashing and banging has stopped,
The ocean here is covered in Sargasso grass, I have
tried to fish some out using a bucket so that we could examine it. Each
clump can have its very own eco system of tiny fish and even sea
horses. I did catch some, but not a clump in its own surrounding water but
a bucket of water with two strings of grass caught in the bucket handle!
So no wildlife! The grass is quite strange as it appears to be separate
clumps which trail about in long strings. I noticed many strings on the
portside as we raced along and as I looked to starboard there was the other end,
Whisper is just ploughing threw them and separating the string. I now
wonder if they join up again once we have passed by? I tried to photograph
it too, but we are being tossed around so much that it is virtually
impossible. I watched for the approaching clumps but as they got
close, Whisper would crash down creating so much froth and pushing the
subject further away under the crest of the passing wave. I will just have
to make do with the piece which deposited itself on deck!
We have seen two ships (Crystal Tiger and Lion)
since I last wrote, one visibly and the other only on the AIS screen as it was
9.6 miles away. The swell is such that the horizon is not very far
away from us, so the chances of us seeing a ship until it is quite close is
slight.
Apart from Crystal Tiger and Lion there are still -
no whales!
Photographs "Sargasso
Grass"
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