Day 5/6
Gaviota
Wed 12 Jan 2011 13:12
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17:17.747N 41:31.594W
Distance so far 1069nm
Passed the 1000nm mark last night on the captains
watch...celebrated by staying asleep, then being savagely beaten around the head
by my falling water bottle in the middle of the night. My bruise count is now 9
and increasing by the day. I think boats are designed as an Indiana Jones type
obstacle course for us crew, with certain death as a punishment for a wrong
move. That Total Wipeout course looks easy compared to staying on 2 feet in this
thing.
Apart from drinking lots of tea there's not been alot to occur
in the last 48 hours. There has been a minor mutiny on board when Syd found his
stock of potatos had been eaten by unpaying stowaways who were located and
have since drowned at sea, or at the very least have become fish food.
Unfortunately our veggie stock has now diminished to 1 aubergine, 1 corgette and
about 2 million carrots. Why so many carrots i'm not sure, maybe the Captain
thought it'd be better for our night vision. I braved the galley for the first
time last night and created what resembled a cottage pie with leftovers from
what our uninvited guests hadn't eaten. I'm pleased to say that we're all still
alive.
Wind is now varying between 10-25knots and as we're south of
the Azores high it's become a consistent ENE giving us a nice breeze to push us
in the right direction. Waves built up yesterday which gave us all in turns
a soaking and it became increasingly difficult to helm so we took the mainsail
down, now just relying on the 'kite' formation of 2 genoas. Gaviota almost
surfs down the waves and with the captain at the helm it managed over 12knots!
Unfortunately the wind has dropped since then and boat speed has slowed
down to between 6-8 knots. As yet no real rain, and mostly
clear sky and the sun is becoming v hot. As we progress further west the
clouds look inreasingly menacing and i'm sure we'll be in for a soaking before
my next blog. |