Fai Tira Blog Thursday 7th April

Fai Tira Still somewhere in the Pacific 9:16.73S 123:23.22W

This blog commenced Easter Monday and covers the period up to Wednesday the 7^th

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April the 5^th would have been Michaels’ birthday............... Happy birthday brother, thinking about you and Carol.

 I found myself climbing into bed on Monday evening accompanied by an underlying feeling of contentment. It was due to the modest successes of my latest culinary attempts and experimentation. I was also, surprisingly, well it was to me anyway, aware of various aches and pains from the exertions of the performance up the mast, even though now fully two days ago.

The first of the days’ modest achievements emerged at breakfast and it was to master the art of porridge making..... Big deal I hear you say!!!!, but this wasn’t your ordinary namby pamby instant variety. This was hard core stuff with jumbo oats. This was the sort that you have to soak, speak to and nurture into life; and all the packet instructions were in Spanish. So after about an hour thumbing through the English/Spanish phrase book and eventually finding the English for cinnamon in Spanish, something we don’t have any way. And also after about half an hour of stirring over a simmering flame whilst making  time to find Pete’s  long lost maple syrup, there emerged, onto the deck ,three steaming bowls of nectar (ok perhaps a slight exaggeration), but certainly the sort of stuff to put hairs on your chest. That is assuming you don’t already have them!!

My second accomplishment was, I think, even more impressive!!!!

It formed part of the evening meal. I fried two onions and five cloves of garlic in some olive oil, added a tablespoon full of curry powder, sprinkled in a handful of dried chillies added some yoghurt (shame about the strawberry flavour),,,Joking!!!, seasoned with black pepper and mustard, then threw in a touch of  red hot sauce bought from the roadside in Antigua. All of this simmered while I expertly and magically provided a pot of basmati rice, (via boil in the bag). The two were then brought together and voila, the birth of Hazells’ Pacific Rice Curry. It was even the right colour; and judging by the looks of approval and subsequent runny noses, it must have worked

The day also had us experimenting with sail plans in order to gain a few extra fractions of a knot. The goose wing formation was working ok and we were making about 6 knots, but the direction was a bit iffy and we thought it would be good to try and improve on the speed.

Pete suggested an entirely new approach, well for Fai Tira anyway, and came up with an inventive use for our yankee. He decided that he wanted to fly it alongside the genoa, to form twin head sails. So that was the plan!!     In order to execute this we needed the use of a halyard and a cleat located on the bow, and with the halyard attached to the head, the clew anchored to the cleat and the tack sheeted back through the genoa fairlead, up it went and fly it did!  With the staysail hoisted and all four sails working well, we must have looked good and no doubt a sight to behold.

Tuesday turned out to be out to be cleaning day. The sailing turned out to be uneventful, except that we continued to maintain our, now customary 150 mile plus 24 hour average

I tackled the kitchen with a mammoth blitz on the cooker, its’ utensils and surrounding area, emerging from the galley some two hours later, drenched in sweat and fairly knackered. Pete’s task was to clean the floor. There then followed a well earned beer while we contemplated further sail changes that ended with us deciding that, for the sake of a peaceful night, it would be a good plan to take down the yankee,  pull through the genoa and set the boat up for a beam reach.

As I came on watch, at midnight, the radio came to life as Pete tuned in for the two hourly listening watch set up in case any boats should be in trouble, normally there just follows a brief period of vocal silence. However this time the radio crackled with a distant call from the BWR yacht Spirit Of Nina. Although too difficult to understand, a subsequent check with Duco on Briet confirmed that they had encountered another vessel and that we should be on alert.

So there is still life out there after all. Thank goodness I was beginning to think that it’s just us and the sea!!

Early radio reports had also revealed that the two, unfortunate, turned back, boats are still in port, waiting for the arrival of spare parts. Assuming that they arrive soon and that the repairs are quick, they must, almost certainly, end up something like three weeks behind. It would seem then that the only way to catch up, would be to miss out a large chunk of the Marquises, one of the best bits, that really would be crap luck.

As I emerged onto my watch, a glance at the instruments revealed we were travelling in a amore Southerly direction than was desirable. Pete was aroused from his sleep by the noise from the sails generated by my attempts at correction. So the position was maintained and I settled down.

At about 2am a crescent moon, laying flat on its’ back, rose into a velvet sky speckled with a million stars, its’ brilliance glinting off the chrome surface of the solar panel frame. And with the light projecting shadows onto the white fabric of the sail, the movement of the boat caused the black outlines to dance and sway like characters out of a Chinese puppet theatre.

I think my watch may have ended too soon!!

At about 6.30am the GPS moved from its’ default setting recording the distance left to go of 999 to the new figure of 998 and started the final countdown of our run in, triggering off a daft psychological mechanism that fools you into thinking almost there now.

The overnight sail configuration was still forcing us in the wrong direction. So at the first opportunity we stowed the whoozie screen, part furled the genoa, pulling it through to windward. With the boat now set up for downwind sailing, making 6 knots, heading in the right direction and the miles now ticking off. I think we can say.........

We’re firmly on our way!!

 Just thought that I would enter this short footnote.

Having thought that I’d finished this piece, I went on deck to relax. I stretched out, dozing, on the cushions in the cockpit, having the occasional chat with David while Pete was sitting in the bowsprit. During one of the quiet dozy periods, I became aware that something had landed on me. I reached down to my chest and retrieved a tiny delicate feather. Just think about it.  Here we are out in the Pacific, still almost1000 miles from land, the ocean is vast beyond belief emphasising the relative minute size of our yacht. We are travelling at about 7 knots with the wind blowing at 15-20, yet somehow this, flimsy object, managed to fall from the sky and find the only thing for thousands of square miles that wasn’t awash..... What do you make of that?

Quite extraordinary!!!

Bye for now Pete and John