Day four : 21:55N 23:12W
Elixir - Ovni
Richard Merrick
Thu 26 Nov 2009 10:51
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After another day of shadowing the African
coastline our analysis of the forecast suggests we turn further West and head
for the Caribean which is exactly what we've done and having covered just sh of
160 Nautical Miles yesterday we are happy that we are making fairly good
pace.
Throughout the course of the last 24 hours we have
caught a fish and lost it, this is a sore point and has just made us more
determined than ever to catch something soon.Following last nights heatlhy
feed of Pork Chops and salad rounded up with some fresh coffee we dipped
our toes in the ocean in a true British Style to find that it was really nice
and warm but just not inviting enough to swim in, considering the waves are 3ish
meters high!
Just this morning we watched
dozens of flying fish zip around the boat and I was personally hoping
a few would inadvertently land on deck ready for our supper. Unfortunately
they've all been quite accurate and missed us by a mile.
Following some reports from our loved ones back
home we have been asked to offer more detail as to what we do and what it's
like. In summary i'd say it's like a sailing trip with consistantly perfect
conditions. Consistant downwind sailing with 15 - 20 knots of breeze, no
rain, night and day temperatures in the region of 25 - 30 degrees and all this
with a superb selection of food in Elixir's freezer.
Our day is based on a 24 hour routine. When it is
dark (7pm - 6am) we run a two hour watch pattern and during the day we start
with breakfast and a look at the up to date weather forescasts for the coming
days. After this we make adjustments to the sails where necessary and get on
with our jobs:
Fishing
Maintenance
Cleaning
Preparing lunch and supper (We are running out of
mayo if anyone knows where we can pick some up?!)
Look out for fish and dophins / whales
Baking bread (Very Tasty)
Listening out for other boats on the VHF
radio
Make some water (Mr Merricks job, this seems to
take some concentration as Richard watches his water maker for hours on end
making sure it's running right, we swear he's got a portable Satellite TV in
there)
At the end of each day we aim to have supper and set a suitable sail configuration just
before sunset at about 6:30 each evening after which we settle into the night
watch.
Elixir is keeping well however the helm seat is in
need of some basic maintenance which we will look at today.
When all is said and done, she continues to look
after us well.
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