Atlantic Storm Graduation
Kantara Atlantic Odyssey
Andy Hemens
Thu 1 Dec 2011 17:57
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Hi All,
We have now all graduated from the school of
'Atlantic storms in the middle of the night'. Jason and I lost our storm
virginity on Tuesday night when at 3 in the morning whilst enjoying a pleasant
chat, the wind went from 17 knots to 35 knots in 5 minutes. This was combined
with horizontal rain and no visibility and far too much sail up. Thrashing
around on the foredeck with flip flops on your feet is not something I
would recommend under these dire circumstances, but when you have to jibe and
the preventer has to be moved....!
Today we had some ferocious squalls which kept us
all busy for most of the day.During a minor repair Jason and Andy were overheard
discussing the merits of different power tools.'You know Jason, I've got a black
and Decker battery drill from the late 80's which has a better battery life than
a lot of...' 'Oh Andy you don't need to tell me my Makita that I got in 92
has got amazing battery ....' 'Well Jase, my 1994 Woolf...' ' Oh they are the
best..I know the one you mean....the 1994 one with the Green handle..'
So today has been quite testing for most of the
crew. We all dealt with the storms very well but me Ian and Joe had to stop
ourselves from jumping overboard.Suzie, Andy said he would like an anorak for
Christmas and the I-Spy book of power tools.
We are looking forward to our second celebration
champagne supper tonight-passing the 1000 miles to run mark. And just on queue a
7lb Dorado took our lure at 3pm this afternoon. But we were lucky. As Jason
threw it on board with the gaffe still attached, the lure embedded itself into
the back of Ian's shorts who was at the helm. He panicked as he felt the
thrashing fish on the back of his legs, pulling his shorts down. Soon his crown
jewels were on display as he danced around like a fairy trying to get rid of his
shorts with our supper attached.
Spirits remain high aboard the good ship Kantara as
we enter the final leg. We all have decent beards now which has changed our
looks considerably. Joe has morphed from Tony Adams into George Clooney, Ian
from Wayne Rooney Roger Taylor and Andy from Andrew Marr to Rolf Harris. I still
look like David Beckham and one tooth Ingham still looks like
Popeye.
Best wished from the Western Atlantic Caribbean
approaches.
Mike
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