Fai Tira in the Atlantic Ocean half way between Gibraltar and Lanzarote. 31:26.27N 10:54.58W
Fai Tira
pete.callis53@googlemail.com
Wed 28 Oct 2009 19:22
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Fai Tira Blog 18.00
UTC 28 October Fai
Tira in the Atlantic Ocean half way between Gibraltar and Lanzarote.
31:26.27N
10:54.58W It's Judy and
my wedding anniversary today. I was on watch at 4.00am when I
opened her presents and card. I must admit I do miss her soooo much. I had a tear in my eye when I read what she had written. Thanks babe XXX Well we have been at sea now for three and a half days now. We have been on motor for the majority of that. There has been very little wind, or wind on the nose. The engine has performed OK except for a time when it decided to stop!!!! John diagnosed the problem to the pre fuel filters being clogged up. John changed them and after a short while we were back motoring down the Rhumb Line (A line on the earth's surface that cuts all meridians at a constant angel other than at right angel) or the shortest route between two ports. I tried my hand at fishing yesterday and caught a Blue Fin Tuna. It was only a baby, being only about a foot long, but with enough meat on it to keep me supplied for a few days. I had to ask John to help me kill it. Apparently the easiest way of doing this is pour alcohol into its gills. I shouted for John to get the cheap Vodka we had purchased in Gib so reluctantlyand with his eyes closed and muttering all the time about cruelty, he did the business. I then gutted and filleted it whilst John the vegetarian looked the other way. There was a lot of blood!!! We saw lots of Dolphins on our trip down to Gib but we have only had one pod with us since leaving on this leg. We have also seen two turtles today. One was jumping out of the water. It must have been a turtle necked jumper!!! He He. The sea has been so calm today it has given us the opportunity to do some jobs. I did some polishing of the stainless steel whilst John painted some of the decks. Each day we have a radio net at 10am local time. The allocated net controller asks each boat its position and local weather information. This information is then logged down and all the positions plotted on the chart. It is very interesting to see where everybody is. There could be fifty miles from between the quicker and slower boats. We are near the back of the fleet and hope to be in Lanzarote on Friday afternoon. Some of the bigger faster boats will be there tomorrow morning. After all the positions have been logged by the controller the net is opened up for general chat. The main topic of conversation seems to be the "catch of the day" and the best way to cook it. I gently fried my Tuna steaks and added lots of seasoning. I have been watching Colin the chef at the Resnova. Last night we changed the watch regime a little. We have been doing three hours on three off. This is quite tiring so we tried 4 hours with the option to stay on watch if you are not too knackered. I took this opportunity to watch the Life of Brian DVD which Judy sent me for our anniversary. This really kept me awake with laughter. The nights out here off of the African coast are idilc with fantastic starscapes. I look forward to night time as much as I do the arrival of the dawn. Only another 230 miles to go! That's 46 hours! We only do 5 miles an hour! Bugger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway I think you get the picture of our life on board Fai Tira. We will explain more when we cross the pond to Antigua. |