Fai Tira Blog Wednesday 31th March

Fai Tira Somewhere in the Pacific 6:27.25S 103:04.71W

The rain that heralded our departure from the Galapagos has become an unfortunate and somewhat dominating feature of the passage so far. The extent can be judged by the fact that we’ve even gone to the extreme of erecting, what should have been temporary but now seems almost permanent, tarpaulin to the windward side of the cockpit for protection. The revelation of our innovative efforts on the daily radio call has had the effect of earning us the, wholly unjustifiable, nick name of a load of whoozies!!

Well anyway,whoozies we may be but at least we’re dry ones, well most of us anyway. At one time the rain was falling with such ferocity that it even managed to find its’ way into the boat by locating a passage along the cables running down from the mast, before forcing its’ was past the rubber sealing grommets, then running across the ceiling of the saloon and then depositing itself upon the unsuspecting head of a sleeping Pete, whose utterances on describing the sensations are unprintable.

Although uncomfortable, the rains aren’t all bad though. As I’ve already said, the unfavourable conditions have given Fai Tira a rather inconspicuous start to the trip, and where there’s rain there’s cloud, and where there’s cloud there’s wind. However the other, early, unwelcome feature of the trip has been the inconsistency of whatever wind we’ve had, both in strength and direction: having the effect of making the sail plan selection difficult and the boat speed unpredictable, but almost always invariably slow. Subsequent successive days of just 120 miles in 24 hours means that we’re firmly rooted to the back of the fleet, something we’re not used to or, for that matter, enjoy..... Anyhow can’t come up with any more excuses, so I think that I’ll stop now.

While all of this has been going on we’ve been enviously listening to the progress of the others.

Particularly impressive is the progress of Hans and Monica in their fabulous’ big catamaran, Natibu. They had their best ever 24 hour period where they travelled in access of 220 miles, an achievement that belied some of their recently encountered difficulties. When motoring in the early stages of the trip they wrapped the line from a fishing net round one of the boats props. Hans is a strong swimmer and it’s not the first time he’s had to jump in and retrieve similar situations, but this a long way out in the Pacific and the owners of the nets were fishing for sharks. So it was a very nervous and a times scared Hans who spent an uncomfortable period hacking away with his knife. He  also described seeing an enormous amoeba like object swim by within touching distance and all this and knowing that he would have to make repeated visits,,,, think we’ll just settle for a slow boat!!!

Our search for success undiminished, we turned our attention to the Friday night fleet quiz. This was something inaugurated by Sue off Camomile for a bit of fun during the Atlantic crossing. On the previous running’s our performance was less than good, with us coming last on two occasions, but this time our team was boosted by the inclusion of David an Oxford University Lecturer, no wonder we felt smug. Pete and I chirped up with our customary one correct answer each, while David was largely responsible for our not unrespectable total of seven out of ten, placing us second (I guess the winners must have a visiting Cambridge University Lecturer on board!!!) Revenge in the boat race!!!????

At last the Pacific is becoming more interesting, nothing spectacular, but we’ve seen lots of activity with distant dolphins and leaping fish. Makes you wonder what they’re jumping from, until you also see the sinister shape of a dorsal fin as it glides across the waters’ surface....  Don’t think swimming’s an option out here!!!!.

The BWR casualty list continues to grow.

One boat has decided to withdraw with insurmountable steering problems. 2 boats have turned back to Galapagos with engine problems and the future of Roundabout remains unsure due to the illness of its skipper David.

Last night produced a glorious moon with all the splendour that I recall from those spectacular Atlantic nights. Even an eventual shroud of hazy cloud couldn’t extinguish its’ powerful light and the horizons, cloud formation and undulating sea remained a fascinating focal point throughout my watch. Even in the morning with the light of the rising sun streaking the distance with orange .reds, yellow and purple, the large setting globe in the West still had the power that enabled its’ reflection to shimmer and dance off the waters’ surface..... Fascinating!

I saw a big bird in the early hours. It was heading in the opposite direction and paid us little attention. The light was not good and its’ height difficult to determine, affecting my judgement of its size, but it was moving effortlessly towards a destination that seemed pre-programmed. The wingspan was large and the lack of light made colours hard to identify, but the flight was graceful and unlike that of normal seabirds.

We had been told that Albatrosses would be making their way across the ocean to their Galapagos nesting destination and that if lucky we might see them. Was this one? Not sure, but would like to think it was.

Right now we’re galloping along at 6-7 knots and in the right direction that points us straight at our destination. The seas are comfortable we’re on a beam reach and have been for the last 48 hours and in that time we’ve travelled 310 miles and just to celebrate I made soda bread and it worked, to the extent that it was all woofed down during the course of just one lunch time. Not as good as yours though mum, but I think you’d have been proud of me.

What a difference a day makes (or, in this case, two)

Bye for now Pete and John