18:38.050N 045:50..514W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Thu 22 Nov 2012 19:41
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"It Always Happens At Night - 22
November"
It is amazing that marine life has been so scarce
and hidden from our view. We have traveled hundreds of miles since leaving
La Gomera and are constantly scanning the ocean for whales etc, but so
far we have not seen any. Imagine our surprise when Tony looked
over the stern of Whisper to see that we were being followed by an enormous
Marlin. It was just below the surface and was about 7ft
long. His long pointed bill (nose) was clearly visible as were
the white fins of his tail, unfortunately it was not possible to photograph
him.
Once again excitement occurred in the middle of the
night and all hands called. It was a very wet and squally night, we had
all had our share of bad weather during our watches. Noel was on watch and
shone his torch up foreword to look at the set of the jib and noticed that
the starboard foreward lower shroud (one of the three starboard wires
holding up the mast) was swinging in the breeze! The split pin holding the
base of the bottle screw to the deck fitting had broken free. Fortunately
we were on port tack, so all the weight was being taken on the port shrouds with
the fore and back stays. This meant that there was slack in
the starboard side so that it was possible to get a new split pin inserted,
not an easy task at the best of times, one of those three
handed jobs, the holes need to be lined up and held in place whilst
the pin is inserted. Mission accomplished before the off watch crew retired
back to bed, tea was brewed as we reflected on how lucky we were not to have
been dismasted. Needless to say all other fittings were checked
thoroughly at the light of day.
Today we are completely becalmed! Last nights
winds have all passed on north and here we are in the middle of this huge ocean
without a cats paw on the surface. Just wait until it gets
dark!
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