Fai Tira Blog 16.00 UTC  Sunday 15th November

Fai Tira in the Atlantic.    25:49.88N 19:05.67W

Last night was our third at sea. We’ve now extended our night watches to five on five off. And surprisingly it seems to be working. My initial worries about the over powering feelings of tiredness I’ve experienced, even at the end of a three hour period, seems to have been countered by being refreshed from the sleep during the five hours off. Early days I know and it still may not work, but so far so good.

The impact from the staggering beauty of the night sky, without light pollution, is something I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. What fantastic natural entertainment all we have to do is, make ourselves comfortable and take a glance upwards to find ourselves surrounded by a dramatic free theatre.

For the second successive night we’ve been treated to a dazzling display by the stars looking down at us from the very black but very clear expanse above our heads. Their reflected beauty, from a calm shimmering sea, and the occasional launch of a shooting star having the effect of adding a whole new dimension.

During the course of the first night the moon put in a late appearance on stage in the form of a large orange crescent, shrouded in soft cloud as it crept out of the sea. The scene was very spectacular, but it was always going to be just a supporting role to the main feature; the stars. At times they’ve been so low on the horizon, it’s been difficult to distinguish them from fishing boat lights.

It’s only now that I’m beginning to appreciate the meaning of a recent conversation, with an experienced sailor, when he said that “The nights are the good bits”.

The entertainment continued, next up was another performance from the sea as it produced a spectacular display of phosphorescence that made the boat appear that it was gliding over a bed of shimmering ice crystals.

Even more spectacular were the happenings at the stern, where explosions of light beneath the surface kept igniting as they drifted away into the distance, It was difficult to pull myself away (There’s something uncannily fascinating about rear ends)

We managed to sail for a short period during last night, but soon the speed had dropped to 2.5 knots.

Before he went off watch, Pete had indicated that 3 should be our slowest and as the boat was beginning to wallow, I ignited the iron paddle and off we went under power once more, all noise and diesel fumes!!

Dawn broke with a spectacular sunrise, the red ball illuminating the edges of fluffy, purple, clouds as it reached upwards, and revealed that we were still a convoy. The yachts of Lucy Alice and Camomile were still close by. The strategy we’d planned of staying in close company for as long as possible, seemed to be working.

The mornings are often busy periods as we sort ourselves out for the day, have breakfast, then prepare for the daily roll call at 10am. It’s also the time that the V.H.F. contact with nearby boats start.

It also revealed that we might have an electrical problem, when our V.H.F. cut out in mid conversation, at about the same time as the tiller pilot decided to sulk and send us off in the wrong direction. Pete suspected a problem with our 12 volt supply, and reset the equipment (turned it off and on) all too technical for me, anyhow it seems to be fixed. Great these computers!!!

It wasn’t long before the wind got up to a heady 6 or 7 knots, so up went the sails and the engine off, bliss. We kept going, with Lucy Alice and Camomile now starting to disappear into the distance

.It lasted for about 3 hours before it all died again. So it was engine on ,and once more we bunched up. At one time Ian and Glenda on Lucy Alice were so near, that we hardly needed to use the radio to communicate, I think the reason for the close company was to enable them to listen to our musical performance, Ian’s already christened us the drunken guitarists! a description that’s only 50% accurate.

The wind still refuses to blow, so Pete has decided that we should go and look for it. The Grib files, our weather forecasts, indicate it might be better further South and that’s the direction we’re headed, aiming for the 25. 20 position.

We’re on our own now and probably will be for the next 3 weeks, so it will be no surprise to learn that at the first opportunity, we parked the boat and went skinny dipping.