let sleeping dogs lie....I wish

Bandit
David Morgan and Brenda Webb
Sun 5 Oct 2014 23:41
25:31S 178:27E
 
24 hour run 9am to 9am – 160mls
conditions at midday Monday – 12knots s/e wind, 2-3m sea, comfortable sailing
 
On passage, you grab sleep anytime you can.  I did the dog watch last night – from midnight to 4am - so had about three hours of broken sleep either side.  It would have been nice to sleep in but I like to be up at 7am for our morning net.  After breakfast both Alastair and I decided to go and try and have another snooze while David did the morning watch.  It wasn’t to be – I was just drifting off into a lovely sleep when I heard David calling for Alastair.  I poked my head out the hatch to see him on the back of the boat pulling in a line.  “We’ve caught a huge tuna – you better wake Alastair.”  Huge was an understatement – I’ve never seen such a big fish and would have quite liked to let it go....but the boys weren’t having a bar of it.  They’re all cavemen at heart!   Not quite sure where we will put this monster;  my freezer is full of ready meals, none of which we’ve used as we’ve been busy eating fresh mahimahi caught leaving Tonga.  Oh well, we’ll find room I guess and a fair bit of it will be eaten in the next few days. 
 
Overnight the wind continued to frustrate with its refusal to stay consistent.  It would be fine 15-18knots for a while then drop away, causing sails to flog, crew to trim....then come back.   Bandit continued to make good progress but it would have been better it the wind had just stayed steady.   The seas have built and we’re now in 2-3m but nice big rollers with plenty of room between them.  We crossed the date line on David’s watch – but there were no celebrations....just a note in the logbook and a mental note to remember when we give our position that our longtitude is now east not west.
 
Last night the temperatures plummeted and it was freezing on night watch.  Out came the thermals and wet weather gear and David even donned his leather sea boots for warmth.  Today the sun is out and conditions are really nice.  Long may they last!
 
Right, I might try and get some more precious sleep.