Current location: 20 27.22N, 27 46.30W

 

Isn’t it always the way- you figure that nothing more is going to happen so you cheat just a little and complete the  blog a couple hours before the end of the day—i am sure it happens to you all the time. Well, last night was my turn at the stove and so I thought I would sneak in an early close on the blog which would give me time to complete my culinary masterpiece around 18:00, which would be before my 19:00 – 22:00 watch. This way I wouldn’t have to get permission to stay up past my mandated bedtime (something about becoming a grumpy old git- me?) . So, complete the blog- hit send and then all heck breaks out. We obviously didn’t get the memo, but, mother nature wanted to play (as Bill called it) Dodge Squall.  In this version of the age old school yard game of dodge ball, rather than having those large squiggy balls being bounced towards you, Mum Nature decided to provide a whole trough of clouds that created and hurled squalls towards us. Much like dodge ball where if you get hit you are out, if you get hit by one of these squalls, it is very likely that what ever sail you had up at the time is “out” of commission and you are deluged with rain at the same time. In the old days, this was the time that you grabbed your bar of soap and shampoo to have your shower—hoping that it would be long enough for you to rinse off as well. Unlike dodge ball, you may get second chance to play again, at this stage in our passage there are no stores available to replace the out of commission sail so it will be truly out for the next few couple thousand miles.

 

There was an added dimension of twisted humour inflicted upon us by MN- none of us had encountered these on the open seas before and while we had seen what they looked like in books and on courses, we had never stared one in the eye or radar, which is what we used. So, picture this, its after dinner, darkening and Jane and Mike say “Aren’t those clouds interesting” and “Do you think they might be squalls” and “They are not showing up on Radar” and “Gee, they are moving pretty quickly” and “Seems to be a lot of rain around them”... by this time, all 4 of us have rolled down the plastic windows we have around the helm seating area to keep us dry. Roberts Rules of Order are discarded and a hasty team meeting is called to (dis)order in a space meant for two. We unanimously agreed that the first action was to drop our main sail down to its third reef (the smallest we can make it without putting it away completely) and the genoa was rolled up to its smallest size as well. We then discovered that you can in fact start to track these on radar once they are within 6 miles—OK, better than nothing but consider that these will be travelling at 20 – 40 kn and it means you have very little time to react.

 

For the next two hours we tracked the squalls and dodged them successfully, at times with the use of our iron lung (motor) to adjust our position. Like all great games, this one continued  long into the night but the frequency dropped so only the person on watch was required. Thus the new game was born: Dodge Squall. We are certain we will have more opportunities to play this game.

 

Today was our first quintessential Trade Winds day- even though we are still a few hundred miles away from them. Remember when we turned right

yesterday (how could you forget) it was because the wind had shifted so that it was coming from the East of North which we could then use to fill our sails to move the boat West and South ...make sense? So the winds continued to flow in this fashion and were forecast to be in the range where we could fly Izzy. So around 10 we dropped both main sail and genoa (she prefers to be called Genny) and raised Izzy- fantastic. It is a very forgiving sail and takes very little TLC, except has a strange aversion to  Dodge Squall.

 

With it being Sunday, we were all treated to the Clare Family Sunday breakfast: Mr Marvelous Mike prepared his signature bacon, eggs and toast. The sun was shining, Izzy was flying and our tummies were very happy— can’t get much better than that!

 

That is unless you are our intrepid fisherman- Bill. To date the score is: Fish 4 (sets of tackle): Bill 0. We have now seen two fish that were on the line perform a trick that Houdini would be proud of and they disappeared. Not to be defeated, Bill set out today with a new game plan- he changed the lures on both of the existing rigs- keeping one with a medium sized hook  and the other with a smaller hook. Into the this attack he introduced yet another rig- including a few of the smaller hooks on the same line. At the end of today, there has been a slight change in the score board- Fish 5 Bill 0, as yet another set of tackle were removed from one of the rigs. Discouraging you might say? Not to our Bill, ever positive, he looks at the score as validation that not only are there fish out there- but, they like his lures. With over 475 pieces of fishing equipment still at his disposal, we are more that confident that fresh fish will compliment our meal plan in the very near future (we have ordered ahead at the restaurant in St. Lucia, as back-up)..

 

Bill wanted to let our intrepid readers know that Captain Kevin has been extremely encouraging of all attempts at fishing.  He has just as steadfastly refused to touch any tackle doing his utmost to distance himself.  Interestingly he says “We had a bite” but that “Bill lost the fish”!

 

We have had numerous comments on the culinary prowess of the crew- and it continued this evening with Chef Mike preparing a family recipe from that was handed down to him by his sister Denise and she got it from the  Australian Women’s Monthly magazine- although he has rebranded it as Mediterranean Chicken. We have truly shopped the world for our men as Denise and her husband Jimmy live in Yeppoon, Queensland.

 

Speaking of cooking on boats- it can be a bit tricky to prepare a meal if the kitchen feels like its on the back of a bucking bronco that you would find in an average Saskatchewan bar (sorry cousins!).  Add to that the fact that most mono-hulls have their kitchen down in the hull, that the boat is rocking back and forth, that you have limited line of sight to land and you have a very challenging situation. It speaks volumes that most yachties crossing the Atlantic will eat their meals in “dog bowls” to avoid it being spilt. Although it is very common for passage makers to prepare 3 – 5 dinners that can be easily warmed up in case the first few days are rough, while in Las Palmas, we met one boat that hoped to avoid the hassle and were going to pre-cook every meal for the duration of their trip. While we prepared 3 meals, we (smugly smiling multihull sailor) don’t quite have the same challenges as our mono-hull brethren and choose to cook all of our meals.

 

Finally for today, a special “shout out” goes to my cousin Judy, her husband Ben and especially their lovely daughter Abby for being the first to get their arrival dates guesses in. We would be remiss to note that they showed a lot of bravery, taking off their gloves for long enough type the email as it was –16 C in Kelowna, BC where they live. As well, we wouldn’t be forgiven if we also didn’t highlight that Abby is a budding hockey star and is following in the footsteps of her dad and various uncles.

 

We do enjoy hearing from you- so please don’t hesitate to drop us a note at libeccio {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, we send our commiserations for those that have to push through those Monday morning blues to commute to work.

 

Best wishes,

 

The Crew of Libeccio;